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I told Hillary to dump me - Bill
11/12/2007 09:03 - (SA)
Ames, Iowa - Campaigning for his wife, former President Bill Clinton says that when they were starting out he was so struck by her intellect and ability he once suggested she should just dump him and jump into her own political career.
That did not happen, of course, and on Monday he gave an Iowa crowd his version of why Hillary Rodham Clinton did not take his advice.
"I thought it would be wrong for me to rob her of the chance to be what I thought she should be," said Clinton. "She laughed and said, 'First, I love you and, second, I'm not going to run for anything, I'm too hardheaded."'
She is running for president now, and husband Bill was stumping for her in the 2008 campaign's leadoff nominating state of Iowa - two days after rival Democrat Barack Obama got a full weekend's worth of attention by bringing in talk show queen Oprah Winfrey to campaign for him.
Combination of mind and heart
The former president opened a two-day swing through Iowa on behalf of his wife, packing nearly 500 people into a theatre on the campus of Iowa State University.
"She has spent a lifetime as a change agent when she had the option to do other things," he said.
"I thought she was the most gifted person of our generation," said Clinton, who said he told her, "You know, you really should dump me and go back home to Chicago or go to New York and take one of those offers you've got and run for office."
Now that she is a New York senator and in a tight Democratic contest - with Illinois Senator Obama and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards - the former president said he wanted to persuade voters that she has "the best combination of mind and heart".
- AP
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