Clinton Ditches Campaign Trail for Caribbean

April 6, 2007 — -- She's been running for three months and it's time for a break.

The Clinton family is ditching the public spotlight for private sunshine, escaping to an exclusive enclave owned by Oscar de la Renta in the renowned fashion designer's native Dominican Republic.

The former first family -- recently announced candidate, former president, and daughter Chelsea in tow -- will spend the long holiday weekend at the Punta Cana Resort and Club.

Nevada's Brian Greenspun, a publishing and real estate mogul who also serves as editor in chief of the Las Vegas Sun, will join the power couple, making the trip not entirely R&R.

Nevada is, after all, the state that stuck its presidential caucus in between Iowa and New Hampshire.

This is the first vacation Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has taken since jumping into the presidential race.

The last Clinton getaway was to the tropical island of Anguilla with Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, and one of the nation's few African-American billionaires.

Sheila C. Johnson, co-founder of BET and Johnson's ex-wife, has endorsed rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and will host a Washington fundraiser this month to put an exclamation point on her choice.

Clinton first visited the Dominican Republic in 1999 when her husband was still in the White House. The Clintons returned as a couple in 2000, and have since made annual trips.

The Carribbean has not always been kind to the Clintons.

On one particularly memorable trip, the Clintons, just prior to news of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the president's subsequent impeachment trial, escaped to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

During the six-day trip, a French photographer shot candid images of the presidential couple dancing on the beach.

In her autobiography "Living History," Clinton described the incident: "One afternoon midway through the trip, Bill and I put on our bathing suits and ventured down the beach for a swim. Unbeknownst to us, a photographer from Agence France-Presse, the French wire service, was hiding in the bushes on a public beach across the bay. He must have had a powerful telephoto lens, because the next day a photo of us slow-dancing on the beach appeared in newspapers around the world."