Former President Bill Clinton planned to aid his wife’s campaign at stops in southern Virginia this weekend just days before the state’s heavily contested primary, having pledged a toned-down role after his contentious remarks in New Hampshire and South Carolina last month diverted attention from the presidential hopeful.
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton‘s campaign announced Bill Clinton would attend three events in Chesapeake, Abingdon and Blacksburg Saturday, an attempt to bolster support before voters in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia take to the polls on Tuesday to help determine the Democratic presidential nominee.
In a television interview in Portland, Maine, on Thursday, Clinton said he said he was mistaken to “think that I was a spouse like any other spouse who could defend his candidate.”
That was a reference to his comments before the New Hampshire primary on rival Sen. Barack Obama‘s opposition to the Iraq War, which he called a “fairy tale.” Later that month, he likened Obama’s victory in South Carolina to that of Jesse Jackson‘s two decades ago, implying the victory was based on race.
The former president held that his comments were “factually accurate,” but were later distorted. He nevertheless resolved to restrain his defense of his wife.
“I think I can promote Hillary but not defend her because I was president,” he said. “I have to let her defend herself or have someone else defend her.”
Bill Clinton’s presence in Virginia, a state Obama is favored to win, according to polls released Friday, could rally the state’s Democratic base and prove a benefit for Hillary’s campaign, said Sean O’Brien, executive director for the Center for the Constitution at Montpelier.
“Any reason it backfired in South Carolina was not because of his presence,” O’Brien said. “It was because of his comments.”
The former president also may provide a counterweight to Obama’s most critical Democrat supporter in the commonwealth: Gov. Tim Kaine, who was set to attend rallies forthe Illinois senator over the weekend in Richmond, Alexandria and Virginia Beach.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
