Bill Clinton Boosts Wife's Bid

Bill Clinton threw himself into the task of spearheading his wife Hillary's presidential campaign recovery effort across New Hampshire today, praising her as a practical political problem-solver who can get things done and borrowing a phrase from Tony Blair to dub her as "the best change maker" in American politics.

As Hillary Clinton prepared for tonight's crucial televised debate in New Hampshire, confining herself to two morning appearances before hunkering down with her campaign advisers, the former president did his best to trigger a comeback reminiscent of his own campaign here in 1992. Bill Clinton led the charge across southern New Hampshire, paying an emotional tribute to his wife as an "extraordinary" human being and "the most trustworthy, the most reliable, the best person I have ever known".

The Clinton campaign has come under heavy assault since Clinton's third-place finish in Thursday's Iowa caucuses. Critics charge that it was a mistake to present the former first lady as the finished presidential article, rather than as someone with a message to inspire the electorate, as senator Barack Obama did so successfully in Iowa.

But Bill Clinton made it clear throughout the day that he was not one of those who think the basic campaign message needs to change. He turned the accusation that his wife is a divisive political figure on its head, praising her as a practical politician, well versed in striking deals with political adversaries and implied she was better placed than Obama to bring America together after the election.

"The real claim that I think Hillary has to your support is this," he told an audience in Bow. "She has proven that she can achieve results even in a highly contentious environment." If his wife is elected president, Bill Clinton said, she will make it a priority to work with Republicans to get the main planks in her platform - health care reform, education legislation and climate change reform - through the US senate, where minorities have the power to block bills. "She is the only one with a consistent record of being able to produce results across party lines, so she can get this done."

Clinton painted a picture of his wife as an emollient political deal maker that few grass roots Republicans, especially conservatives, would recognize. He said she was a "good friend" of senator John McCain and had good relations with the Republican Iowa victor Mike Huckabee - like Bill Clinton a former governor of Arkansas. She had even worked on adoption law reform with one of Bill Clinton's most implacable foes, the former Republican congressman Tom DeLay of Texas. Bill Clinton said his wife had said, "Bill, I will work with the devil himself to get these kids permanent homes - and she did," he added to laughter.

"She's a problem solver," he said. "She gets things done. We need a president who can pull people together and move this country forward. That is her central claim to this."

"You have to decide how important action is to you, how important the fact of doing and getting things done is and evidence of change is. And you will have to make your judgment based on that. But she is the best change maker I ever saw."