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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gets a hug from husband and former President Bill Clinton after her nomination acceptance speech during the New York State Democratic Convention in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 31. (AP/Don Heupel) |
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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has approved plans to foil any Republican Party campaign to attack her marriage in the 2008 presidential election.
Democratic Party sources said Mrs. Clinton has decided to force the issue of her relationship with Bill Clinton during her current re-election campaign for senator of New York. The decision has included giving the former president a high-profile role over the next few months.
"You're going to see Hillary and Bill together a lot during the campaign," a party source knowledgeable of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign said. "Bill will be politicking alone and with Hillary, and the idea is to present them as a loving couple."
The sources said Mrs. Clinton has assessed that the GOP plans to make her marriage a key issue in any presidential race in 2008. They said this could include questions as to whether the Clintons are living together as husband and wife or are simply maintaining a marriage of convenience to preserve Mrs. Clinton's presidential ambitions. The Clintons have been married for 30 years.
Over the last few weeks, Mrs. Clinton has leaked information to friendly media outlets, including the New York Times, on her purportedly tension-free marriage with Mr. Clinton. The leaks portrayed an extremely busy couple who spend about two weeks per month together but avoid public appearances.
"There was widespread expectation after Bill left office that their marriage was over," a source close to the Clinton campaign said. "But that didn't happen and in New York, this was never an issue. But the dynamics of this marriage would be definitely addressed and Hillary wants this to be resolved now rather than in 2008."
Mrs. Clinton has approved a campaign video that features Mr. Clinton, in which he praises his wife. The 18-minute video, shown at the state Democratic convention in Buffalo last week, seeks to portray a happy and mutually supportive couple.
"She could have had a much easier and more lucrative life, but it wouldn't have been her life," Mr. Clinton says.
At the convention, Mrs. Clinton embraced Mr. Clinton on stage as she was unanimously endorsed for a second term. The former president did not speak.
State Democratic leaders regard Mrs. Clinton's campaign as a warm-up for the 2008 presidential race. They said her biggest challenge would be to rally Democratic voters to ensure a landslide victory this November.
"Let's keep Hillary in the United States Senate and near her next home, the White House," New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told the delegates at the Democratic convention in Buffalo.
Conservative Republicans have been monitoring the Clintons, who share joint investment accounts, in an effort to trace the sources of Mrs. Clinton's campaign contributions. Human Events has reported that the former president earned more than $16 million in honoraria from foreign interests and questioned whether this would be used to help Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. | 
