Former President Bill Clinton stumped Monday for Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe, a close friend and his wife’s one-time campaign chairman, as a national Republican group sought to undercut the visit by evoking memories of the bitter 2008 presidential primary election.
Bill Clinton on Terry McAuliffe:
“The press says, ‘Aw, well Terry McAuliffe raised millions of dollars for Bill Clinton, and he’s got to show up.’ And that’s absolutely true,” Clinton said. He added, “But … it matters who the governor is. He was made for this moment, to be governor.”
Republican Governors Association on McAuliffe and Clinton:
“Now, Clinton is paying McAuliffe back. He’s campaigning with him in Virginia, and donors who slept in the Lincoln Bedroom are now bankrolling McAuliffe’s campaign. Clinton and McAuliffe are even hoping you forget how hard they fought to keep Barack Obama from becoming president.”Source: Associated Press, billandterry.org
The Republican Governors Association, which has two gubernatorial races to monitor this year, marked Clinton’s visit by creating the Web site billandterry.org to attack the duo.
McAuliffe, who is involved in an increasingly caustic Democratic primary battle, visited Richmond and Roanoke with the former president, who championed McAuliffe’s energy plan and framed the candidate as the one best suited to boost the commonwealth’s deteriorating job market.
The GOP used the opportunity to remind voters of both men’s activities during then-Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential primary fight, in which she lost Virginia, and eventually the nomination, to Barack Obama.
Bill Clinton criticized Obama’s Iraq war stance in January as “the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen,” and later dismissed Obama’s South Carolina victory by saying that “Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in ’84 and ’88.”
“Together, both of them were probably the most vocal Hillary Clinton supporters and did everything they could to keep Barack from being president,” said Republican Governors Association spokesman Mike Schrimpf. “But at the same time he’s … acting like he deserves great credit for Barack Obama being elected president. That just isn’t the case.”
Whether voters reject or embrace McAuliffe’s longtime connections with the Clintons could play a large part in whether he emerges victorious from the June 9 primary. He is relying heavily on a network of donors who contributed to the former first lady’s presidential bid to vault his fundraising above that of his opponents.
McAuliffe is battling state Sen. Creigh Deeds and former Del. Brian Moran for the nomination. The victor will face former Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell, a Republican.
