Former President Bill Clinton stumped for his wife at the University of Denver Wednesday evening, emphasizing her experience and denying that she is “too polarizing.”
More than 3,000 supporters gathered in the 9,000-seat Magness Arena Wednesday night, far fewer than the more than 15,000-person overflow crowd that packed the arena earlier in the day to see Barack Obama speak. Heavy snow likely kept some Hillary Clinton supporters away.
In a more than half-hour speech that never directly mentioned Obama, the former president contrasted his wife with the Illinois senator by saying she “has the right vision and the right plan.
“The issue is not experience versus change,” Bill Clinton said. “The issue is who can make change in your life.”
The former president didn’t get far into his remarks before he was interrupted by hecklers, who shouted something about reinvestigating the Sept. 11 attacks and held up signs. The hecklers interrupted him several more times during the speech.
“We heard you the first 10 times,” Bill Clinton said at one point to a heckler.
The former president ran through a litany of public policy issues ranging from energy to the environment, the war in Iraq to education. His speech seemed to hammer home a point with his wife’s supporters: that he would bring his expertise to a Hillary Clinton administration.
The former president found himself among a welcoming crowd. One man’s T-shirt said, “I miss Bill.” Others held signs that said, “Bill for 1st Lady.”
The arena was filled with thousands of young faces but many older ones, too.
One sign read: “Old chicks for Hillary.”
Catherine Kennedy, 55, a Denver resident who saw both Obama and Bill Clinton speak Wednesday, said the former president brought back memories of better times.
“My life was good when Bill Clinton was in office, and it’s not been so good with Bush in office,” Kennedy said.
The former president would never be far from Hillary Clinton , she said, adding, “He’s in bed with her.”
The Denver visits from Obama and Bill Clinton came the same day that fellow Democrat John Edwards announced he was folding his candidacy, though he did not immediately endorse either of his one-time rivals. Republican Rudy Giuliani also pulled out of the race, endorsing Arizona Sen. John McCain.
In his visit to the campus earlier in the day, Obama took subtle aim at Hillary Clinton in his remarks, even taking license with a catch phrase her husband used while in office.
“I know it’s tempting to simply turn back the clock, to look backwards and try to build a bridge back to the 20th Century,” Obama said. “There are those who will tell us that our party should nominate someone who is more practiced in the art of power and that’s it’s not yet our turn or our time.”
Obama compared himself to John F. Kennedy, saying “the old ways will not do.”
Bill Clinton’s sharp comments about Obama in recent weeks dismayed some top Democrats, but the former chief executive steered clear of any direct attacks Wednesday night.
“You have to decide who is the best change-maker,” he told the crowd.
While Obama has suggested that Hillary Clinton would unite Republicans in their opposition to her candidacy, the former president pointed out Wednesday night that his wife had won her Senate re-election with 60 percent of the vote in parts of rural New York.
“Don’t tell me she can’t win this election because she’s too polarizing,” Bill Clinton said.
