Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign got a boost last week from the most popular Democrat in America, said Karl Ullrich in the Chicago Tribune. The candidate's ex-president husband, Bill, campaigned alongside her in the critical caucus state of Iowa, where she has been trailing in the polls. But during their three-day swing, 'œan extraordinary thing happened: Hillary began to disappear,' all but overshadowed by one of the best natural politicians of this or any other era. In Davenport, the former president whipped up 'œdeafening cheers and applause' as he exhorted 3,000 Hawkeyes to vote for his wife with his usual folksy charm and 'œperfect rhetorical pitch.'' When Hillary began droning on about 'œeducation, poverty, Iraq and energy,' relying on scripted phrases and punch lines, though, the crowd fell silent and grew visibly restless. All eyes and cameras remained on Bill, 'œrelaxing on a set of stairs,' listening attentively and saying nothing. At every stop, 'œHillary may have just as well been in the back of the crowd selling 'I Like Bill' T-shirts to fans.'
It's the biggest dilemma of Hillary's campaign, said Mark Halperin in Time. On the one hand, her husband's 'œunparalleled political showmanship' can draw big crowds and major dollars. But his presence at her side serves to remind voters of their troubled marital history, as well as to underscore her legendary stiffness and lack of warmth. On the stump, Bill Clinton is so charismatic that he can make campaign finance reform sound riveting. By contrast, Hillary 'œsounds like a policy wonk' even when she's discussing her childhood. So Team Hillary is deploying Bill for only a few tantalizing minutes at rallies, and then yanking him away from the podium, said Patrick Healy in The New York Times. But no matter how hard he tries to restrain himself, Clinton remains the 'œone supporting actor who can sometimes upstage his leading lady simply by breathing.'
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