Return Of The <i>Clintonistas</i>

Everywhere you look it seems there's another former member of the Clinton administration running for office. Elizabeth Fulk of the CBS News Political Unit reports on what these FOBs (Friends of Bill) are up to.

Mr. Clinton has been active on the campaign trail and has committed to raising $10 million for Democratic candidates. As the November 5 elections draw near, the FOBs are using their administration contacts for fund raising, but many are distancing themselves from the former president himself.

Take Janet Reno for instance. The former two-term attorney general has gone back to Florida where she won five elections as Miami-Dade County's state attorney before coming to Washington. She has her sights set on winning the state's Democratic primary on September 10 in order to challenge Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. As she campaigns, Reno has worked hard to deflect criticism from her actions in the Elian Gonzalez and Waco cases. On the issue of whether she will ask for Mr. Clinton's help, Reno has been vague, saying, "(he) was in the process of trying to work out how he's going to deal with all the people who are involved in campaigns that were in his administration."

Another FOB actively distancing himself from Mr. Clinton is former Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, the probable challenger to Republican Elizabeth Dole in the North Carolina Senate race. Bowles rarely mentions specific ties to the ex-president, talking only of his "White House service." While his campaign literature mentions his position as "Chief of Staff to the President," it fails to mention which president. In a recent TV ad, Bowles was featured in a photo with, of all people, Republican Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott. And in a further attempt to distance himself from the previous administration, Bowles was quoted in an article as saying, "nobody was tougher publicly or privately on the president … than I was about his personal failings." That's probably a wise political move given the fact that North Carolina is Bible-belt territory where few have forgotten the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

However some friends of Bill, like former HUD secretary Andrew Cuomo, are playing up their previous affiliations with the 42nd president. Cuomo is running against New York State Comptroller Carl McCall for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in a race to take on George Pataki, the GOP incumbent. While he has been dogged by questions raised in a 1999 inspector general's report about fraud at HUD, Cuomo views his ties to Mr. Clinton as an asset and often plugs his role in the administration. In an attempt to distinguish himself from the rest, Cuomo says, "I am the only person now running for office from the Clinton administration who hasn't in some way repudiated the president."

That's not quite true. In Chicago, former White House Communications Director Rahm Emanuel won his congressional primary due in large part to endorsements from his old boss. At a fund-raiser for Emanuel, Mr. Clinton said, "I am profoundly grateful to him because he helped me to be a much, much better president for the American people than I otherwise could have been. He would be a breath of fresh air (in Congress), blowing at gale-force speed."

In Massachusetts, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who previously wrote a book attacking Mr. Clinton, has recently been warming up to his former boss; while Reich's rival for the Democratic governor's nomination, ex-DNC Chair Steve Grossman, has been falling all over himself proclaiming his closeness to Mr. Clinton.

In New Mexico, former energy secretary and U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson is the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. His spokesman, Billy Sparks, says at this point Richardson has no plans to ask for Mr. Clinton's endorsement and instead is playing up his record during eight terms in Congress. Meanwhile in Michigan, Jim Blanchard, a former governor and ambassador to Canada, hopes to win the Democratic nomination on August 6 for a chance to retake the governorship. Blanchard, whose friendship with the ex-POTUS stretches all the way back to when Mr. Clinton was governor of Arkansas, is using quotes and footage of the former president in his campaign videos and literature. "He's not distancing himself at all," said Blanchard Press Secretary Eric Mueller of the former governor. "He's embraced what he's done with Clinton because Clinton is remembered very fondly in Detroit and Detroit is a large part of the constituency."

It seems that how much these FOB's embrace the past has to do with how popular Mr. Clinton is in their states at present. While some want nothing to do with the former president, others hope to ride on his coattails. It's been two years now since he left the White House but one thing hasn't changed: Bill Clinton still manages to stir up the political landscape.