Excerpts from current Newsweek magazine, online ...

Bye Bye, 'Bad Bill.' 'Good Bill' Is Back.

Andrew Romano

BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C.--It's 6:22 p.m. and still no Mr. President. He was expected here ... over an hour ago, at 5:15. But when it comes to Bill and the clock, "expected" is an elastic word--and the natives are getting restless. … At 6:25, the crowd starts chanting "We Want Bill! We Want Bill!" Chanting might be an overstatement. They quickly ditch the exclamation points and the cheer subsides.

I'm about to experience a similar deflation. Truth be told, I'm expecting fireworks. That's because I've read the stories that have consumed the press this past week …

At 6:31, the former president finally arrives. "I drove three-and-a-half hours to get here," he says. Note the number. With the Clintons' anti-Obama talking points firmly fixed in the headlines, Bubba's in a "World Almanac" mood tonight--and my keyboard fingers can barely keep up with all the facts and figures. The median family income: "$1,000 lower today than when I left office." Number of jobs created in the 1990s: "22.2 million." Hillary's tax credit for college students: "$3,500." Savings if students stop defaulting on loans: "$4 billion." Gallons of oil consumed for every gallon produced: "four." And he's just getting started...

It's almost like a Mastercard ad. Recruiting, training and deploying a new soldier to Iraq: "$56,000." Sending one Blackwater employee to protect a diplomat: "$135,000." Witnessing a former president spout an endless stream of statistics meant to reassure fretful voters shaken by struggling economy:

Priceless.

Of course, no one can process this much data. But that's the point. Bad Bill did his duty; now Good Bill (wonky, experienced Bill) is back. And his goal is to tout Hillary's "Solutions for America"--the more specifics, the better. "Voters don't care about politicians attacking each other," he has said (after attacking). "They want to know how we'll make their lives better."

Tonight, that's exactly what Bill did--and he only made one mistake. Closing his remarks with an anecdote meant to illustrate Hillary's warmth, he mentioned how a former roommate called up on their 37th wedding anniversary and volunteered to help with the campaign. "So it was last September," he started, then paused, catching his erroneous calculation. "Wait. October." Everyone laughed. It was the only time Clinton got "red-faced" all night.
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Read every word of this story -- http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/01/25/bye-bye-bad-bill-good-bill-is-back.aspx

Positively,
Carolan