Bill Clinton stumps for wife; ducks press

In the weeks leading up to the Democratic primary in Ohio, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the Mahoning Valley three times.

During that same time-period, former President Bill Clinton never came here.

He campaigned throughout Ohio in support of his wife’s presidential bid.

While we didn’t see him, Clinton campaigned three times in Chillicothe last month.

The former president gave Ohio that dreaded five-letter acronym, NAFTA. He also stiffed this area on a vow/promise to locate a Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) facility here.

History shows Clinton fibs every now and then to get him out of a jam.

Even with NAFTA and DFAS, Clinton probably would have been greeted warmly by Valley Democrats.

His wife’s campaign said the Valley was a key region. The candidate and Gov. Ted Strickland worked it hard while the ex-president visited other locations.

It was a good strategy.

Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, did exceptionally well here.

Just when we thought there would be a small break in presidential politics in the Valley, the ex-president came here Tuesday.

It was exactly a week after his wife won Ohio’s Democratic presidential primary.

[I had told my wife that my crazy work schedule would return to my normal not-as-crazy schedule after the primary and there would be a lot fewer long and late nights. My wife, who is the politically astute one in the family, was skeptical. It turns out she was right again.]

The former president’s visit was strictly a cash transaction.

Clinton went to the Canfield home of Bruce Zoldan, a prominent local businessman and political donor, to raise money for his wife’s campaign.

If you had between $1,000 and $2,300, you could eat shrimp and lamb and listen to Clinton talk. You could even ask him a question.

The event raised well over $100,000.

Everyone I spoke to who was there said Clinton delivered a great speech and answered each question with great insight.

He also dropped one of his latest catch-phrases on those at Zoldan’s house.

To paraphrase from those who were there — the event was off-limits to the media — Clinton said something like “even if I wasn’t married to Hillary, I would campaign for her because I believe she is the best candidate for president.”

How many new things can you say when you’ve delivered a few hundred speeches about your wife?

I have no legitimate complaint about the campaign’s decision to not have Clinton speak to the local media.

It’s their call.

I think it was a bad decision.

The campaign made it clear before the event that my request for even the shortest of interviews wasn’t going to happen.

A few minutes talking about the Valley would have worked. Maybe a comment about Eliot Spitzer, the soon-to-be ex-governor of New York, cheating on his wife and, boom, we’d be done.

Instead, local newspaper and television reporters and videographers camped out in front of Zoldan’s house.

We caught a glimpse of Clinton heading to the event. Deadline called so I missed his departure.

I returned to the office, made a few calls to those at the event and the article was written.

What made Clinton’s Ohio primary victory over U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., more impressive is the latter dominated television advertising in the state.

A report by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project revealed that Obama’s campaign spent $4.4 million to air about 16,000 of his TV commercials in Ohio.

In comparison, Clinton’s campaign paid $2.3 million for about 10,000 TV spots.

The Wisconsin study shows that combined the two Democratic candidates spent about $600,000 for 2,691 TV spots on Valley stations.