(CNN) - Bill Clinton became visibly upset Wednesday over comments by a prominent South Carolina Democrat that compared the former president's actions on the trail to those of infamous Republican strategist Lee Atwater.
In an interview with CNN's Jessica Yellin, Dick Harpootlian, a former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party and a supporter of Barack Obama, said some of Bill Clinton's recent remarks on the campaign trail were appeals based on race and gender. He said the comments were meant to "suppresses the vote, demoralize voters, and distort the record," and said they were "reminiscent of Lee Atwater."
Clinton sharply disputed the charge, and lashed out at Yellin for raising the question.
"You live for this. This hurts the people of South Carolina," he said. "Because the people of South Carolina come to these meetings and ask questions about what they care about. And what they care about is not what's going to be in the news coverage tonight, because you don't care about it.
"What you care about is this. And the Obama people know that. So they just spin you up on this and you happily go along. I mean, the people don't care about this," he added. "They never ask about it. And you are determined to take this election away from them. And that's not right. That is not right. This election ought to belong to those people who are out here asking questions about their lives."
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Two new polls appear to show Republican Rudy Giuliani slipping in Florida, a state he once called "crucial" to his presidential chances.
ABOARD THE ELECTION EXPRESS, West Memphis, Arkansas (CNN) – Veda Hardy received a present last Christmas that no one would want. Had it arrived by postage, she would have handed it back to the mailman with a simple message: Return to Sender.
Hardy said she was one of 80 people laid off by her company in December 2006, while another 350 workers from another business nearby were let go. At 46, receiving a pink slip can be particularly hard. But Hardy, who lives in nearby Searcy, decided to do something about it. She went back to school.
Hardy had seen coverage of our cross country trip from South Carolina to California, where we are making stops along the way to talk to Americans about how the economy is impacting their lives, and possibly their votes.
She approached us to say that the number issue for her is job creation.
“I am currently going to school with a lot of 40-plus age bracket, and I think our concerns are with the job market,” Hardy said.
The issue of jobs even trumped Iraq, a war her son served in for 14 months as a gunner on a M1 Abrams Tank. She supports the U.S. efforts in Iraq and quotes her son about how we hear very little about the achievements being made in the war torn country.
“We tend to look at the negative so much of the war, of the cost, and yes we have loss of lives, oh my goodness,” Hardy said. “But he came home and said ‘Mom you just don’t hear the news reporting about getting electricity, getting running water, clean water. Women can vote.’”
Still, for Hardy it is about jobs.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - California Rep. Duncan Hunter, a former presidential candidate, announced Wednesday he is endorsing Mike Huckabee's White House bid.
“I got to know Governor Huckabee well on the campaign trail,” Hunter said in a statement. “Of the remaining candidates I feel that he is strongly committed to strengthening national defense, constructing the border fence and meeting the challenge of China’s emergence as a military superpower that is taking large portions of America’s industrial base.
"Along with these issues of national security, border enforcement and protecting the U.S. industrial base, I see another quality of Mike Huckabee’s candidacy that compels my endorsement," he added. "Mike Huckabee is a man of outstanding character and integrity. I saw that character over the last year of campaigning and was greatly impressed. The other Republican candidates have many strengths and I wish them all well."
It's getting nasty between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton seems to be enjoying it.
The former president had this to say: "I kind of like seeing Barack and Hillary fight. They're flesh-and-blood people and they have their differences – let' em at it."
But not everyone thinks it's becoming. Several top Democrats are concerned that the gutter politics will end up harming the party's image ahead of the general election.
Senator John Kerry, an Obama backer, wrote in an e-mail to supporters saying: "The truth matters, but how you fight the lies matters even more." Kerry doesn't mention Clinton by name, but says they're fighting back against anonymous e-mails questioning Obama's Christian faith.
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, another Obama backer, says attacks coming from the Clintons are similar to what he's seen from Republicans and called comments about Obama from former President Clinton "distortions”. Daschle says such bickering ultimately destroys the party and that it will have a "huge lasting effect down the road... if it doesn't stop soon."
On the other hand, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile thinks this "generational fight" will make the party stronger in the end.
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TAMPA, Florida (CNN) – The day after Fred Thompson announced he was dropping out of the presidential race, Mitt Romney told reporters he believed he had the most to gain from the former senator's exit.
For the Republican party to hold on to the White House, said Romney Wednesday, “I think you have to have social conservatives on board, as well as economic conservatives and foreign policy or national defense conservatives.
"I speak to those three groups. I think Fred Thompson did as well and in some respects his departure from the campaign I think inures to my benefit.”
He added, “I will miss Sen. Thompson's humor at our debates, he is a delightful character.... I appreciate his contributions to this campaign.” The two men often tangled on the campaign trail, with Romney often on the receiving end of attacks from Thompson.
The former Tennessee senator hasn’t said whether he plans to endorse any of his former opponents, including close friend John McCain, and it's unclear which candidate his former supporters might now embrace.
The most recent polls, which were conducted before Thompson ended his run, showed Romney neck-and-neck with McCain in Florida's GOP presidential race.
- CNN Political Producer Alexander Marquardt
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