4:49 PM: Bill says Hillary is a "change-maker"
MADISON -- Stumping for his wife on Valentine's Day, former President Bill Clinton said he would be out campaigning for Hillary "even if we'd never been married."
Clinton said his wife, Hillary, is the best candidate he's "ever had the chance to vote for in a Democratic primary."
A Hillary presidency would result in "more jobs and broadly shared prosperity than the eight years I served as president," Clinton promised in the hour-long speech at the UW-Madison Stock Pavilion. More than 2,000 were in attendance.
The ex-president never named Hillary's Democratic opponent Barack Obama by name, but several times referred to her being a person who is "solutions"-driven, a jab at Obama whom the campaign has been trying to label as more style than substance.
"If you want a change-maker you ought to vote for her," he said. "She's the best at it I ever saw."
And, Clinton said, he should know about her qualifications. "I just haven't been knowing her since yesterday," he said.
But Clinton did hint at hard times for the campaign, saying it "ran out of money" after Super Tuesday and the campaign "had to let these last states go," referring to the Potomac primaries of this week.
However, he said the campaign has raised $13 million via the Internet since Super Tuesday, and Clinton asked for attendees to send a text message to sign up to get involved with the campaign.
Among the state Dem luminaries at the talk were former Dem legislator Tom Loftus, who served as ambassador to Norway under Clinton, state treasurer Dawn Marie Sass, who initial supported John Edwards in the primary, and DPW Chairman Joe Wineke, who says he is undecided. Dane County Exec. Kathleen Falk introduced the former president.
-- By Greg Bump
Labels: 2008 spring primary