'Meet the Press' transcript for June 8, 2008

MR. ALLEN:  You know, when you hear that stuff, it sounds impossible.  But when you walk into an arena with thousands of people screaming for Hillary Clinton, you, you think it is possible, as a real practical matter.  And I think that she's a much different person at the start of this campaign that, than now.  And there really are people out there who I think are "Hillary Clinton Democrats." And most--the most important thing, of course, for the Democrats is to win.  And, and that's what Barack Obama's, Barack Obama's going to have to look at.  And, you know, 18 million voters, if we can find all 18 million, is 18 million voters.  And there's a lot of emotion, a lot of passion, and they're going to need that to, to get them over the top because it's probably going to be a close election.

MR. COWAN:  And the more involved that she is, I think, doesn't it take away the "I told you so" argument that, you know, if he doesn't end up winning some of the big states, the more involved she is, the less chance there is for her to point fingers and say, "See, I told you that perhaps..."

MS. MITCHELL:  Well, I think whether she's on the ticket or not, you're going to see her out there campaigning as much as he would want her to be, in targeted areas, because she now has to validate the fact that she is not a sore loser.

MR. RUSSERT:  Bill Clinton, as Chuck Todd brought up, here's how the AP handles that.  Pro of putting Hillary on the ticket, you get Bill Clinton. Con, you get Bill Clinton.  And as recently as last week, Bill Clinton was saying that Senator Obama had others "sliming" his wife.  This is some of the compilation of just a few of the things Bill Clinton said during the course of this race.

(Videotape)

FMR. PRES. BILL CLINTON:  (January 7, 2008, Hanover, NH) This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen.

(January 26, 2008, Columbia, SC) Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice.

(April 22, 2008, Pittsburgh, PA) You always follow me around and play these little games.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  What happens now, Chuck Todd?  One suggestion yesterday, the Bill Clinton redemption tour where he goes to Appalachia and goes town to town and says, "I know Barack Obama, and he is in a position to help you economically.  You have to overcome some of the cultural, race concerns you have and embrace his candidacy."

MR. TODD:  Well, look, I do think that the Hillary Clinton campaign did find finally a way to use Bill Clinton.  And frankly, Gore and Kerry now must look back and say, "Why did we send him to African-American urban areas?  We should have sent him to these rural areas.  The guy is pretty good at this and, and--when he's in Bubba mode, and when Bubba's talking to Bubba." The problem is, as we found out during this campaign because we can't help ourselves in following the guy around, he's a constant newsmaker of the wrong kind.  So wherever you send him, we're--we in the media are going to gravitate to him. He is a former president, it's not like any other surrogate.  And he is going to not be able to help himself talk about his own legacy in the '90s.  And all of a sudden he'll redo trade deals or redo stances that Obama will have.  And I think that that's the risk that the Obama campaign doesn't want to take. That said, he does need to figure out how to reach out.  There is the, the, the bitterness between President Clinton and, and the Obama campaign.  And so, therefore, Barack Obama is, is, is very, very...(unintelligible).

MR. RUSSERT:  I remember reading those polls, Ron Allen, that you pointed out to in South Carolina where Senator Clinton was ahead amongst African-American voters.  Then came some of the comments that Bill Clinton made.  I went to Cleveland, Ohio, to do the debate with Clinton and Obama, and a big, black security guard came up to me and said, "You see Bill Clinton, you tell him thanks for making us 90-10 for Obama," and I just, "Whoa, I don't--not in the business of transmitting messages, sir, but I appreciate your comment."

Lee Cowan, how bad is the blood between Barack Obama's campaign and Bill Clinton?

MR. COWAN:  Well, I don't think--they don't talk about it a lot.  I think it's, it's fair to say.  I mean, I think that they, they sort of let Bill be Bill.  And I think now, obviously, they're going to have to face it and have to figure out exactly how they're going to, how they're going use him.  I think the danger, like, like Chuck said, is how far do you let him go off the leash and--if you can put a leash on, on Bill Clinton and all.

MR. RUSSERT:  They announced the other night that Bill...

MR. GREGORY:  The Clinton campaign couldn't do it.

MR. COWAN:  Right, exactly.

MR. RUSSERT:  They announced the other night that Bill Clinton was going back to his Harlem office to re-engage on work on his foundation, and may be out of politics.

MS. O'DONNELL:  That's...

MS. MITCHELL:  Well, they announced that...

MS. O'DONNELL:  I think if you look at how Hillary Clinton performed in the Senate, she was not overshadowed by her husband there.  She was a woman standing on her own, building relationships across the aisle.  So if you're looking for how would she govern, that's one model.  And if you send the former president back to do the good works that many people said he didn't get credit for during this cycle, maybe you offset that image a bit.

MR. COWAN:  And how effective was that in the...

MS. MITCHELL:  They, they announced that, that he was going back to the office specifically because of concerns that he was really clouding her message.  And that--but there is resentment.  You, you asked Lee about the feelings in the Obama camp towards Bill Clinton.  There's a lot of resentment that Chuck was touching on among the Bill Clinton team, and they do feel, and I think he does feel, that Obama always was able to stand above the crowd, but that people working for him were putting the stuff out and "sliming" Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.  They really feel that very strongly, and so there is a lot to overcome there.

MR. ALLEN:  Yes.

MR. RUSSERT:  But if there's going to be a Hillary Clinton vice presidential candidacy, and there is a vetting process, the Obama campaign seems to be pretty clear that Bill Clinton would be part of that process...

MS. MITCHELL:  Which means...

MR. RUSSERT:  ...whether contributions to his foundation, his presidential library, whether or not he'd still be able to give speeches around the world.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.  And, you know, in 2000 when Bush ran against Gore and Clinton would do something, Bush's line was "The shadow returns." And he would joke with Clinton about that, and Clinton had a good laugh, he--the two of them, Bush and Clinton, had a good laugh at Al Gore's expense.  But that's the same issue here, that Bill Clinton is still the shadow that returns.  Now, for Hillary Clinton he was essential.  Without him, Hillary Clinton would not have had the, the establishment support, the money and, and the heft to really launch her own presidential campaign.  But then there was also downsides.  But look, Bill Clinton, I think, is a receding figure in Democratic politics. Barack Obama is a huge force.  He is a phenomenon.  He is creating so much enthusiasm within the Democratic Party.  Bill Clinton is a major, major star in that party, but his role is changing.  And I think we're really going to be--we're going to watch the beginning of that change how--whatever role he plays here.

MR. RUSSERT:  We're going to take a quick break, we're going to come back and talk about Obama vs. McCain.  That's the reality.  Our NBC News political dream team is with us.  We'll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  And we'll be back with more of our NBC News political team.  An in-depth look at this race after this station break.

(Announcements)

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