Fmr. Prez: ‘I Kind of Like Organizations with Woman Presidents’

BC News’ Tahman Bradley Reports: After a one minute standing ovation from the League of Latin American Citizens, Hillary Clinton’s chief surrogate former President Bill Clinton–who seemed to stop and wait for dozens of audience members to finish taking his picture with cell phone cameras–used his opening line to make his intentions plainly clear.

Turning to address LULAC’s president Rosa Rosales, Mr. Clinton said, "I kind of like organizations with woman presidents."

Clinton was on hand to receive the 2007 LULAC President’s Award at the LULAC’s Annual National Awards Gala in Washington, D.C., and to tell Hispanic voters that his wife Sen. Hillary Clinton D-N.Y. is working on issues of importance to the Hispanic community.

He said that while in the senate, his wife has been fighting against cutbacks to the Community Reinvestment Act, something the former president argues helps the Hispanic community. He talked about the asthma problems in areas with large African American and Hispanic populations, like Harlem, and how "Hillary’s been working on this."

Though he referenced his wife about a half dozen times, Clinton was careful not to get too political or say anything that could be misconstrued by his Senator Clinton’s opponents.

There was no mention of the already intense contest for 2008 Democratic nomination for president in which Sen. Clinton’s campaign got into a feud with rival Sen. Barack Obama camp over whether the Illionis legislator should denonce remarks made by one of his supporters. 

The awards gala was an opportunity for President Clinton–who is known for having strong ties within minority communities–to help his wife reach out to a critical voting base.

Courting the Hispanic vote may prove to be much more challenging for Senator Clinton than it was for the former president in his elections. A Clinton administration Energy Secretary, Gov. Bill Richardson D-N.M., who is the son of a Mexican mother and a white father, is in the race against the former first lady.

As the only governor in a field flooded with candidates from the senate, Richardson has been touting his executive experience as an assent.