MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- With the clock approaching midnight Wednesday, Bill Clinton decided it was time to wrap it up. "It's getting late -- even for me," he joked to the crowd of more than 500 South Carolinians gathered in the Myrtle Beach High School cafeteria.
For nearly three hours, the former president held sway with a friendly crowd as he campaigned for his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton. The controversies raging over his frequent tangles with the media, and his sometimes incendiary comments about Barack Obama, rarely intruded. Indeed, while Mr. Clinton can't seem to talk to a reporter these days without getting into a shouting match, the only time his recent outbursts arose in the lengthy back and forth with voters that night came when one asked why the media wasn't being fair to the former first lady. Mr. Clinton responded he was glad somebody noticed.
With Mr. Clinton's role in his wife's campaign at its most prominent this week in advance of Saturday's primary here, he appears to be replaying on the South Carolina stage a dynamic that continued throughout his career: At times when he battled intensely with the national press, he successfully rallied the party faithful to his side.
Mr. Clinton -- not his wife -- has also been the one making headlines this week as the focus has shifted to a series of critical comments he has made of Mr. Obama, a practice the Illinois senator has characterized as "pretty troubling." Some prominent, neutral party leaders have reportedly contacted Mr. Clinton to express concerns that the attention being paid to intraparty fighting and his increasingly prominent role as chief antagonist to Mr. Obama would tarnish the party in a general election.
Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle (D., S.D.), an Obama supporter, has suggested that Mr. Clinton's role in this race is unbecoming of a former president, and a leading South Carolina Democrat, Rep. James Clyburn, said his advice to Mr. Clinton was to "chill a little bit" on the attacks.
Some Democratic voters coming to see Mr. Clinton's swing through the state share those concerns. "I'm going to say it like my good friend Congressman Clyburn, he needs to cool it, and I agree with him on that," said Barbara Gathers of Charleston, S.C. who saw Mr. Clinton's two-hour session earlier in the day Wednesday at Hugar's, a packed downtown Charleston restaurant.
For his part, Mr. Clinton blames the media for sensationalizing the back and forth with Mr. Obama. All of the campaigns have surrogates working on their behalf and criticizing their opponents' records, although no one commands the same bully pulpit and national media attention given to Mr. Clinton's words.
In a widely publicized exchange with CNN on Wednesday, Mr. Clinton rejected suggestions by a former state party chairman, an Obama supporter, that Mr. Clinton's actions were reminiscent of the late Republican strategist Lee Atwater, known for bare-knuckled politicking. Later that evening, at the Myrtle Beach high school, he joyfully recounted the exchange for the friendly crowd. "It's been an interesting day, one of the supporters of the other candidate compared me to Lee Atwater today," he said as the crowd guffawed. "Somebody thinks I did something right."
Mr. Clinton often arrives late for campaign appearances, but he never leaves an audience jilted. Turned away by the fire marshal from the Hugar's appearance, dozens of supporters waited across the street for a glimpse of Mr. Clinton.
He exited the restaurant, waved, and jumped into the back of the waiting SUV. As the crowds yelled out in disappointment, the SUV stopped less than a block away and Mr. Clinton jumped out to shake a few hands.
Later that evening, he stayed so long that the crowd had noticeably thinned out more than two hours later. "Thanks for coming," he joked to audience members who filed out as midnight approached and he continued to speak. "If you've got to go, please go, but remember I asked for your vote."
Even as the event was wrapping up, Mr. Clinton assured the audience that he would stay for a while after the rally. "After I finish shaking hands I'll go back and sign them all," he told an attendee who asked him to sign a copy of his autobiography. The crowd cheered.
By SUSAN DAVIS
online.wsj.com
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