Super Surrogate: Bill Clinton Stumps for Obama

Following his well received speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte on the evening of Sept. 5, former President Bill Clinton appeared at 35* grassroots events/rallies for the Obama campaign in 11 states, including an intense stretch of 30 events in the final eight days of the campaign.  An Oct. 29 Obama campaign press release described Clinton as appearing in "a mix of battleground states, where he will continue to lay out the choice for the American people in this election, and states with strong Democratic bases, where he will fire up supporters and urge them to help get out the vote for President Obama."  Clinton also appeared in three fundraisers on June 4 and offered testimonials in "The Road We've Traveled," the Obama campaign's 17-minute documentary released on March 15, 2012, as well as in footage used in the ads "Clear Choice" (Aug. 23) and "He's Got It Right" (Oct. 24).  Ryan Lizza wrote in The New Yorker that the basis for Clinton's participation traces to a golf game the two men played at Andrews Air Force Base on Sept. 24, 2011.  According to The New York Times' Mark Leibovich, Clinton was an "active behind-the-scenes strategist" during the course of the campaign.

See:
Ryan Lizza.  "Let's Be Friends."  The New Yorker,  Sept. 10, 2012
Mark Leibovich.  "Voice Is Strained, but Support on the Trail Unstinting," New York Times, Nov. 4, 2012.
*Leibovich puts the number at 37... "headlining 37 rallies for Mr. Obama over the last seven weeks of the campaign."