Bill Clinton comes off sidelines of 2016 campaign

Bill Clinton’s backstage role in his wife’s presidential campaign may be coming to an end.

As a critical month for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign unfolds, the former president is becoming a more visible presence on television and on the fundraising circuit.

In the past two weeks, the 42nd president has headlined at least five fundraisers, and he delivered the keynote address at a Jefferson-Jackson party dinner in West Virginia. On Tuesday, he appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, part of a series of recent interviews that his office says are related to his foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative.

Last year, Bill Clinton told The Denver Post about his wife's potential political plans. He said he was "a bit player, and whatever she wants to do is fine by me."

Yet he now appears positioned to play a greater role, especially when it comes to fundraising. Hillary Clinton raised just $2 million more than Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, currently her chief rival, in the last quarter.

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"When this is behind us, I'll be able to do some more’’ fundraising, the former president told CNN last week, referring to the global initiative.

"I'm kind of like an old horse that they keep in the stable,’’ the former president told attendees at the West Virginia annual fundraising dinner.

Hillary Clinton is facing a pivotal few weeks as she seeks to beat back a serious challenge from Sanders, who is leading her by double digits in New Hampshire and is polling close in Iowa. She also hopes to clear the cloud of controversy over her use of a private email server as secretary of State.

In recent weeks, she's staked out a series of positions aimed at appealing more to her party's left, including her announcement Wednesday that she was opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a trade pact she supported while in the Obama administration.

Over the course of the month, she’ll take part in the party’s first official debate on Oct. 13, hold a series of town hall forums, and face down Republicans during an Oct. 22 hearing before the special Benghazi committee. She’s also awaiting a decision by Vice President Biden that could come at any time on whether he’ll seek the Democratic presidential nomination.

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Bill Clinton’s re-emergence comes as Republican Jeb Bush’s campaign is also weighing whether to give the candidate’s brother, former president George W. Bush, a greater role.

"It’s a little bit like Rocky and Apollo Creed coming back,’’ said Steve McMahon, an unaligned Democratic strategist.

Polls show Bill Clinton remains among the most popular political figures in the U.S., particularly among Democrats.

"There’s debate about how publicly to use him,’’ said Julian Epstein, a Democratic strategist and unpaid supporter of the Clinton campaign. "The point of view that’s winning, and that I agree with, is that you don’t want to make the Al Gore mistake and keep your most gifted surrogate and campaign mind on the sidelines during the most formative months,’’ he said.

Gore, then vice president, declined to use Clinton in the homestretch of the tight 2000 campaign to fire up Democratic voters in critical states like Arkansas and New Hampshire.

As the former president wades deeper into the public sphere, the big question is whether his contribution will be akin to 2008, when his rhetoric about then-senator Barack Obama may have hurt Hillary Clinton in South Carolina, or 2012, when he delivered a rousing speech at the Democratic convention making the case for Obama's re-election.

In Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign, he regularly introduced his wife at events and even headlined some rallies. That strategy led to criticism that he was overshadowing her. He also angered black voters by seemingly diminishing Obama’s victory in South Carolina by comparing it to Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 wins there. He also sparked criticism when he described Obama’s Iraq war opposition as a "fairy tale.’’

Clinton is also famously defensive when his wife is under attack, an impulse he will be challenged to keep in check.

In a separate interview last month with CNN, he likened the email controversy to the Whitewater scandal that hung over the early years of his presidency and never led to any prosecutions. "The other party doesn’t want to run against her. And if they do, they’d like her as mangled up as possible,’’ Clinton said.

Democratic strategists say a sequel to 2008 is unlikely, though, because his role won’t be as pronounced this time around.

Howard Dean, a former presidential candidate and Democratic National Committee chairman, said he doubts Clinton will be as high profile as he was eight years ago.

"The best way he can help is to raise a bit of money and let Hillary Clinton speak for herself,’’ said Dean. "That’s what they’ve done so far, and I think that’s a good strategy,’’ he said.

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