Bill Clinton is campaigning almost 2,000 miles from Kentucky during its primary election Tuesday, following a rocky few days on the trail last week.
The former president stopped at the U.S. Virgin Islands Monday and was scheduled to make three short appearances in Puerto Rico Tuesday. Meanwhile, Hillary made five campaign stops in Kentucky from Sunday to Monday. She has also invested in television and radio ads in the state after a loss to Bernie Sanders in the Indiana primary two weeks ago.
Despite being continually confronted by protesters on the campaign trail, Bill has relaxed his tone since his appearances for Hillary in 2008 – but the Clinton campaign does not appear to be taking any chances.
At a rally in New Jersey Friday, a protester confronted the former president about his 1994 crime bill. In response to criticism that the bill contributed to mass incarceration, Clinton told the protester not to “get upset” and lauded the legislation for lowering crime rates.
The crime bill also caused the campaign grief in April, when Clinton shouted at Black Lives Matter protesters in Philadelphia, “You are defending the people who kill the people whose lives you say matter. Tell the truth!”
Clinton made three stops in Kentucky Thursday and was met with protests from coal miners, though they weren’t as intense as what he faced during his late April stop in West Virginia, where his wife lost to Sanders. Hillary has been met with hostility in Appalachia since her March promise to “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
“I don’t care if you boo or cheer. I’m glad you’re here,” the former president told protesters in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, some of whom had stood outside with signs that read, “Coal miners won’t forget! Go home Bill!”
During a rope line at the same rally, Clinton was confronted with allegations that his nonprofit foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, channeled money to a for-profit company owned in part by Clinton’s friends and donors. When asked whether he denied the allegations, Clinton said, “Oh God, yes.”
In addition to sending Bill out to the Caribbean, the Clinton campaign has walked back Hillary’s remarks about Bill’s role in a potential Clinton administration.
Hillary lauded her husband’s economic achievements Sunday in Kentucky and echoed an earlier May statement that Bill would “come out of retirement and be in charge” of economic reforms if she became president.
“My husband, who I’m going to put in charge of revitalizing the economy, ’cause, you know, he knows how to do it,” she said Sunday.
Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill was quick to tidy up her statements, telling reporters Monday that the former president would be a “part” of his wife’s economic efforts and would focus on “revitalizing certain regions or certain sectors,” such as coal country. Merrill also refused to speculate about a formal role for Bill in Hillary’s administration.
Though her husband is hundreds of miles away, the former secretary of state channeled his angst Monday at a rally in Kentucky, telling one protester, “You are not entitled to your own facts.”
