Bill Clinton helps raise 400,000 for his wife

The former president spent more than two hours at the suburban Cincinnati home.
INDIAN HILL, Ohio (AP) -- Former President Clinton helped raise about 400,000 for his wife's presidential campaign during a fundraiser at a friend's home, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Clinton spent more than two hours Wednesday night at the suburban Cincinnati home of lawyer Stan Chesley, who hosted the 2,300-per-ticket event for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bill Clinton mingled with guests, posed for photographs and then spoke to the crowd for more than 30 minutes.
"It was a fantastic event, and he stayed a lot longer than anybody expected," Chesley told The Cincinnati Enquirer after the fundraiser.
Before leaving, the former president posed for photographs with the kitchen staff, Indian Hill police officers and valet parking attendants.
"He even sang 'Happy Birthday' to my granddaughter," Chesley said.
Chesley, who helped raise millions in the 1990s for Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party, said he plans to hold a fundraiser featuring Sen. Clinton later this year.
Met with mayor
The former president arrived at Lunken Airport at 4:30 p.m. and then spoke privately with Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory in the airport's administration building.
Mallory said he spoke with Clinton about efforts to improve race relations, youth violence and economic opportunity -- "all issues that the president has had a lot of experience in dealing with."
Mallory said he was not ready to endorse a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed Ohio voters surveyed favored Sen. Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama 32 percent to 22 percent. The poll had an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Obama made a campaign swing through Ohio last month, stopping in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.
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