Bob Shrum, a top advisor to Gore's 2000 campaign, said in an interview: "Look, in 2000 he had a generally unfavorable rating with swing voters and undecided voters in the battleground states."
Conditions are different now, Shrum said. "This is not 2000. . . . Circumstances have changed, and perceptions have changed," he said. "I don't see what the downside is."
Yet when it's Clinton, there are always risks. He is a less disciplined campaigner these days, lashing out at reporters when he dislikes a question and rarely passing up a chance to talk about his post-presidential work and past accomplishments.
Still, Obama supporters say they are eager to have him in the fold.
Dick Harpootlian is a former South Carolina Democratic chairman and Obama backer who clashed with the former president during the primaries, calling the Clinton team's tactics "reprehensible." Now Harpootlian is over it. "In the heat of battle, all of us become advocates and emotionally charged," he said. "But I welcome him to the campaign trail. I welcome him to South Carolina. And I think he can be very effective in many of those states he carried in 1992."
Hillary Clinton campaigned in Florida for Obama earlier this week. Once Bill Clinton hits the Sunshine State, both halves of the Clinton marriage will have stumped for Obama in the crucial battleground state with 27 electoral votes.
An aggregate of public polls in Florida shows Republican nominee John McCain with a 3-percentage-point edge.
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peter.nicholas@latimes.com
