Bill Clinton in N.H. looking for one last ‘comeback’
Bernie Sanders’ best attack lines against Hillary Clinton focus on “unfair” trade deals like NAFTA, the end of Glass-Steagall Act anti-trust laws and the Defense of Marriage Act that opposed gay marriage.
What he doesn’t say: It’s her husband who owns these policies.
It’s been 24 years since Bill Clinton became the “comeback kid” in New Hampshire after finishing second behind Paul Tsongas, a senator from neighboring Massachusetts.
With his wife facing a similar challenge from a popular senator from a neighboring state — Sanders represents Vermont — it’s possible the person best suited to help her is the man Sanders seems to be, subtly and without naming, campaigning against.
As Hillary Clinton left New Hampshire on Sunday to highlight the water crisis in Flint, Mich., Bill Clinton barnstormed through the state’s critical voting pockets.
“This is my closing case. It really is so much like 1992 on steroids,” said Bill Clinton, who spoke Sunday at Keene Middle School in the state’s western region.
Sanders’ home court advantage has helped him maintain a double-digit lead in the polls. New Hampshire is considered a mustwin for the democratic socialist who faces a much harder slog once the competition moves to a southern belt of states with large minority populations.
Hillary Clinton made a momentous comeback in the final hours of the 2008 primary to beat Barack Obama, then a senator from Illinois, here. Yet, even in the past several years, the state’s been flooded with new residents whose voting habits are unknown, and there are many young voters who have no personal connection to the Clintons.
Yet there is one critical demographic her husband may be able to help Hillary Clinton with: white working class men.
In his speech, Clinton called Keene a “special place” where “I first realized I might get nominated” at a time when the state had the nation’s worst economy, including bank failures and mortgage foreclosures.
In an audience filled with older white men, Clinton gave a nod to veterans and shared an anecdote from his 1992 campaign about a young woman whose father lost his job. “He can’t look at me over the dinner table,” she told Clinton.
The Clinton campaign is hoping some of the nostalgia over the thriving economy that followed those years can help mitigate some of Sanders’ advantage.
The final advantage Bill Clinton brings is a broad bench of supporters, including state representatives and senators, with lifelong connections in the state.
By mid-morning Friday, Bill Shaheen, a former co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign, had made at least 25 calls to friends and neighbors. “It’s the old network,” he said.