Two Clintons one too many for some

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- In 1992, when he was running for president, Bill Clinton bragged that his brainy lawyer wife would give voters "two for the price of one." This year, Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief rival for the presidential nomination says that's precisely the problem he faces in the campaign.

As Barack Obama continued Tuesday to charge that the Clintons are ganging up to distort his record, Bill Clinton was back in one of his favorite places — the campaign trail — and clearly relishing the encore.

"I love this election," Clinton told a crowd of about 250 at the Allen Temple AME Church here, one day after a debate in which he was one of the chief topics in a heated discussion between his wife and Obama. "It's exciting."

Not all Democrats are as enthused about Clinton's unusual role in the midst of a heated Democratic primary. "It's not presidential," complained former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, who supports Obama. This week, House Democratic Whip James Clyburn advised Clinton to "chill."

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, officially neutral in the race, said Clinton "crossed the line" for some black voters here with his critiques of Obama, the Senate's only African-American.

"Why doesn't he go sit down?" Cobb-Hunter said of the former president in a telephone interview. "It's like he doesn't want to let go. It's kind of sad. Bless his heart. He wants to remain the center of attention."

Chief campaigner

Far from keeping the former president off the hustings, Hillary Clinton's campaign has picked up his pace. As the New York senator left South Carolina to make campaign appearances in states that will hold contests Feb. 5, her husband arrived to serve as his wife's surrogate in chief.

Even as he spoke here, at an event hastily organized overnight, aides scurried to set up a schedule that will take him to the state's coastal areas today. Hillary Clinton is not due back in South Carolina until Thursday, two days before the Democratic primary.

In Washington, she blamed the debate's fireworks on Obama, who she said is "frustrated" by losing the past two nominating contests in New Hampshire and Nevada. "He clearly came looking for a fight," she said.