In Arkansas, Kerry Finds Key Word to Be ‘Clinton’

If there was a question about whether John F. Kerry has any qualms about invoking Bill Clinton in his quest for the White House, they were resolved this week after his visit to the former president’s home state.

The presumptive Democratic nominee ostensibly stopped here as part of a four-day effort to promote his healthcare plan. But it seemed more like a pilgrimage.

By the time he finished his 20-hour swing through the city Thursday, the Massachusetts senator had dropped Clinton’s name at least a dozen times. He had tried to imitate Clinton’s drawl. And he had visited Doe’s Eat Place, a smoky barbecue joint that was a renowned hangout for Clinton and his staff.

The senator’s embrace of the two-term president and former Arkansas governor, who still inspires devotion among some voters and is disdained by others, contrasts sharply with the posture struck by the last Democratic presidential nominee.

In the 2000 campaign, Vice President Al Gore consciously distanced himself from his boss and his travails. In the process, many analysts say, Gore failed to capitalize on the administration’s triumphs -- a key reason they cite for his razor-thin loss.

This year, Kerry has shown no compunction about invoking Clinton and his legacy. In the last month, he has moved to define himself as a centrist in the Clinton mold, heralding the country’s economic vigor in the 1990s and trumpeting his support for Clinton’s deficit reduction measures. He’s also hired a raft of former Clinton White House officials to serve as his economic and foreign-policy advisors.

Clinton has returned the favor. In March, he helped kick off a $10-million fundraising drive for Kerry. On Wednesday, he sent out another e-mail solicitation, asking Democrats for more contributions. And he has signaled his willingness to do more as the campaign proceeds.

David Morehouse, a senior advisor to Kerry who worked as Gore’s trip director in the 2000 campaign, said that the senator feels freer to align himself with Clinton because he doesn’t carry the same burden that the former vice president did. “Gore’s discomfort was partly due to the shadow that Clinton cast over the party and over the administration,” Morehouse said. “That shadow was much larger during the Clinton administration than it is four years later.”

Some analysts think Kerry runs the risk of being upstaged by the dynamic former president, especially with the launch of Clinton’s biography next month. But others suggest that Kerry could use the contrast to his advantage. “If it’s possible to develop a confidence with somebody onstage who everyone else sees as a more charismatic speaker, then ... that argues for a character strength that Kerry can demonstrate,” said Wayne Fields, director of American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

For his part, Kerry seems unconcerned about comparisons.

On Wednesday evening, he stood in the humid Arkansas air on the same airport tarmac where Gov. Clinton held his last rally on election day in 1992, hoping to soak up some of the same magic. It was Kerry’s first trip to the state since he effectively secured the Democratic nomination in early March.

“Thank you for being part of a great Democratic Party in the state of Arkansas that gave this country leadership over eight years that put America to work, grew our nation, made us stronger,” he told several hundred people who greeted his campaign plane. “When Bill Clinton left office, not one young American in uniform was dying in a war anywhere in this world.”

He added: “You look all around our country today, and you wouldn’t know that we’d had those incredible eight years of President Clinton and Al Gore, years in which we had the lowest inflation and the lowest unemployment, and we built the spirit of the nation.”

At the first mention of Clinton’s name, the crowd broke into whoops and cheers.

Clinton easily carried Arkansas in his two presidential campaigns, but President Bush won it four years ago by about 5 percentage points. As of now, Kerry has targeted the state for a major push, and tying himself to Clinton is key to that.

“You’ll be very happy to hear that when he was a young president

On Thursday, he focused on his healthcare plan in a speech at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, saying he wanted to “complete the journey ... that Bill Clinton tried to advance.”

However, unlike his comments at similar forums this week in other states, he made no mention of “lessons learned” from Clinton’s failure to pass a reform proposal widely criticized as too complicated.

During his Arkansas visit, a local TV reporter told the candidate that co-workers had been taking bets about whether he would arrive at the tarmac rally late, in typical Clinton fashion.

“Whatever President Clinton did, it worked for him,” Kerry answered.

Kerry’s rally, in fact, started 30 minutes late.