Will Bill Clinton Endorse....and if so when

[displacedyankeedem]

If he wanted to play kingmaker, now would be a fantastic time for it.

[mouse7]

1. Clinton has ruled out endorsing before a nominee is known

He refuses to endorse before someone has the nomination locked.

Clinton WILL NOT endorse someone. Speculation is useless.

[dkf]

2. The only person Clinton truly wants to endorse is Hillary.

n/t

[oasis]

12. Both Bill and Hillary have political savvy and they realize that she may

not get a chance to run in 2004, or at anytime in the future. They are content to be stewards of the Democratic Party and guide it back to its glory days.

[JI7]

3. i wish he would endorse kerry

i know he is probably more for clark. but i think he likes kerry very much also and would be just as happy with him as the nominee. but i don't think he will really endorse anyone until voters decide and end up endorsing whoeven wins as he has said he will do.

[SheilaT]

4. Bill Clinton is first and foremost a politician

and knows better than to undermine his elder statesman status by endorsing anyone before we know who the nominee is going to be. If one of the candidates has enough delegates prior to the convention, then he may well endorse at that point.

But it's pure fantasy to hope he'll endorse your candidate any time before then. He knows that our chief hope in the general election is for all of us to fall behind that candidate and do everything possible for him, and if he endorses early and had chosen the wrong guy, it hurts the party and the election far more than it can help one man.

I hope that he offers to campaign for the nominee and that offer is accepted.

[RogueTrooper]

5. I hope he does not endorse anybody

If the Big Dog endorses anybody before the contest has been settled that candidate could find themselves in much weekened position in the run up to the GE.

The Republicans will paint that candidate as the tool of Clintons and not his own man.

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. Not necessarily an endorsement,

but after Howard Dean and JIMMY CARTER stand together this week-end, which "looks" like an endorsement, Bill Clinton should hold a HUGE press conference or rally for Wes Clark...not to endorse, but just stand beside Wes and give a speech about why he, Bill Clinton, supports Wes Clark. Carter and Dean will be opening the door for that to be done.

Go, Wes! Go, Big Dog!

[NerdzRuleDaWorld]

7. Call me cynical, but...

I doubt Clinton will strongly support any Democrat, before or after the nomination. Why? Because when the Democrats oust the Bush Empire from the White House, Hilary will not be able to run for president until 2012, and I just don't think she can wait that long

[molly]

8. Yes, she can!

[NerdzRuleDaWorld]

9. Technically she could run, but she wouldn't have a chance

While Sen. Clinton could, technically, run for President in 2008, she would not have any chance of winning against an incumbent Democrat. This is because a party would always give the nomination to a sitting president who is running for re-election. And the only way he wouldn't run is if he had screwed things up so badly that no one sane person could possibly vote for him. I mean, look how badly Bush has screwed things up, and he is still running virtually unopposed in his party. Even if somehow a democrat did that terribly (which I don't believe it is possible to do worse than Bush), the American voter would sadly vote for the repubs, identifying the president with the Democrats

[newyawker99]

14. Hi NerdzRuleDaWorld!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Maddy McCall]

10. No endorsement from Clinton but his whole senior staff endorses Clark

and many are working on the Clark campaign. While President Clinton may not outwardly endorse Clark, the message is pretty clear who he would like to see face Bush in November.

[9119495]

11. Possibly if one candidate gets the delegates before the convention but

another one or two refuse to step aside. Other than that, I doubt it.

[Padraig18]

13. Yes, he will endorse whoever locks the nomination up.

He's actually said that, unless I'm mistaken.

[bluestateguy]

15. I don't think anyone

Look at all the sour grapes came from the other candidates (but not Clark) over the Gore endorsement of Dean. It's a risky proposition because if he endorses anybody, fairly or not, Hillary becomes tied to that candidate. If that candidate loses the nomination, recriminations may follow Hillary Clinton into 2008. Also, I'm not so sure Clark wants the endorsement yet, as it only fuels the talk that he is the "Clinton candidate", not a helpful label for a candidate trying to define an identidy of his own.

[demothinker]

16. I heard

there's a tradition that former presidents don't endorse anyone in the primary. Clinton has too much class to break that.