Bill Clinton in 11th-Hour Blitz to Rescue Democrats

Ex-president 'bewildered' at lack of party message
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 22, 2010 2:25 PM CDT
Bill Clinton in 11th-Hour Blitz to Rescue Democrats
Former President Bill Clinton shakes hands with the crowd after speaking at campaign rally for incumbent Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010, in Baltimore.   (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

The bulldog is back on the scene: Bill Clinton is tearing from coast to coast ahead of Election Day, and winning over Democratic crowds wherever he goes, writes Philip Rucker in the Washington Post. But the former president is dismayed at his party’s inability to craft a clear message about its accomplishments, with the result being that candidates have become “human pinatas.”

"He is just baffled and bewildered," says friend and former DNC chief Terry McAuliffe. By Nov. 2, Clinton will have appeared in some 100 events. He pulls huge crowds with a pitch “rooted in empathy and delivered off the cuff,” Rucker notes. He also focuses on local issues at each stop. Requests for his help are pouring in from Democrats, and Rucker says the White House is not coordinating his stops. "He is deployed by no one but himself." (More Bill Clinton stories.)

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