Clinton

Democrats yearn for the bounteous days of Bill Clinton's presidency, when the economy was flourishing, there were good jobs at good wages and poverty was on the wane. So it's a puzzle that on one of his signature achievements - the North American Free Trade Agreement - the party's presidential candidates are sprinting away from his record as fast as they can. It's as though Republicans were calling for defense cuts while invoking Ronald Reagan. Even Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton can't bring herself to defend the deal her husband pushed through.

WASHINGTON -- Henry J. Hyde, the veteran Republican from the suburbs of Chicago who was a key figure in the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton and wrote a controversial law ending federal financing for abortions, died yesterday at a hospital in Chicago. He was 83. Mr. Hyde, who retired from Congress at the end of the 2006 session, died at Rush University Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman told the Associated Press he was admitted for persistent renal failure after open-heart surgery in July and suffered a fatal arrhythmia.

GOFFSTOWN, N.H. -- Jockeying for advantage in the first primary state, former Sen. John Edwards took on the Democratic front-runners over the war in Iraq in a sometimes contentious presidential debate last night. In a spirited exchange on the pre-eminent issue of the Democratic campaign, Edwards criticized Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama for "quietly" casting last-minute votes last month against an emergency funding measure for the war in Iraq. He contrasted their silence with the decision of another contender, Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, to speak out against continued funding.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has edged past former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in campaign donations from Maryland, but the Republican presidential candidates lag far behind Democrats in contributions coming from the state. According to the latest campaign finance reports, nearly one of every two Maryland dollars given to a presidential campaign between July 1 and Sept. 30 went to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who widened her local money advantage over her nearest rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON -- Maryland is fertile territory for presidential candidates in need of cash for the costliest presidential campaign ever, with lawyers, business leaders and political activists delivering sums out of proportion to the state's size. Marylanders gave a combined $6 million to presidential candidates through June, federal elections records show. Just 19th in population, Maryland ranks 11th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in donations to presidential candidates.

The term "horserace" is relentlessly applied to presidential election campaigns, but the current contest actually fits the label. It features neck-and-neckers, come-from-behinders and odds-maker favorites who stumbled out of the gate. With large fields vying for the Republican and Democratic nominations now headed into what may or may not be the final furlongs, this is surely the most compelling White House competition in decades. Alas, like horseracing, this presidential primary contest is likely to be for most Americans a spectator sport.

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Rodham Clinton made it official yesterday, launching her bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination and a chance to return to the White House as the nation's first female president. The only presidential spouse to win election to the Senate, Clinton is regarded as the early front-runner. But her celebrity, her lead in the polls and the formidable organization she built with her husband aren't frightening others away. Up to a dozen Democrats are either running or preparing to enter a contest that appears more competitive now than it did a few months ago. "I'm in. And I'm in to win," Clinton declared in a written statement on her campaign Web site.

WASHINGTON -- All over America, millions of voters don't know - or care - that Mike Gravel has an "artistic" side or that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton likes Celine Dion. Yes, it's hard to believe if you're a tuned-in, turned-on popular culture vulture umbilically connected to the blogosphere/videosphere. But cross the country and ask normal people about the latest Gravel ad and they'd think you don't know how to pronounce the word for tiny pebbles. Ask working folks about "You and I," the campaign song selected by Mrs. Clinton in her recent Sopranos-spoof video, and most will shrug indifferently.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton will release a $1.766 trillion federal budget blueprint for 2000 today that proposes billions of dollars in new spending while preaching fiscal conservatism.Clinton's budget plan will ask Congress for substantial new money for scores of domestic programs popular with liberal and middle-class constituencies, from urban housing vouchers to new classroom construction.But Clinton, taking advantage of surging federal tax receipts, will also propose large spending increases for cherished Republican priorities: the military, local police and small business.

THE MOST important thing the United States can do now for the little states of Central America is provide the nearly $1 billion in emergency aid that President Clinton asked of Congress. And the most important part of the aid is its substantial forgiveness of Nicaraguan and Honduran debts and its two years of grace for other repayments.President Clinton's swing through Central America, meeting its leaders in one room, heralds a new relationship. Before, the CIA was heavily involved in right-wing and brutal regimes that went beyond legitimate suppression of Communist-influenced insurgent movements in Guatemala and El Salvador.

There are plenty of reasons to be upset about what's going on in the Congo. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's angry response to a student who asked her what her husband thought about a matter of local importance is not one of them. The United Nations reports that there have been 200,000 acts of sexual violence in the Congo since 1998, 65 percent against children. Since January, more than half of the thousands of rapes reported were perpetrated by the Congolese army, according to Human Rights Watch.

LUANDA, Angola - -Hillary Clinton made the first visit to Angola by a U.S. secretary of state in seven years, trying Sunday to strengthen relations with a growing oil producer that is being aggressively courted by China. Clinton sought to emphasize the positive in her two-day visit, praising Angola's efforts to rebuild after a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. But during a meeting in Parliament, opposition politicians urged her to press for more democratic behavior from President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power for three decades.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Wednesday for a new "architecture of global cooperation" in a wide-ranging address aimed at raising her visibility as a chief voice of U.S. foreign policy. Outlining her view of global relationships, Clinton said the administration's goal is to enlist more partners, including individuals and groups, as well as governments, in solving world problems. "We will offer a place at the table to any nation, group or citizen willing to shoulder a fair share of the burden," she said, speaking to an audience of experts at the Council on Foreign Relations.

MEXICO CITY -Asserting that the United States shares blame for Mexico's drug violence, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised more equipment and support to help the country's war on traffickers Clinton said the United States has a duty to help because it is a major consumer of illicit drugs and a key supplier of weapons smuggled to the cartels. "We know very well that the drug traffickers are motivated by the demand for illegal drugs in the United States, that they are armed by the transport of weapons from the United States to Mexico," Clinton said Wednesday at a news conference with Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa.

BEIJING -Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that she would not emphasize contentious issues such as human rights in talks this weekend with the Chinese and focus instead on topics on which progress might be more likely: the economy, climate change and security issues. Clinton's weeklong tour of Asia culminates with meetings in China, where she is remembered for a tough 1994 speech on human rights. But she said that after years of pressing Beijing, the dialogue on human rights, freedom for Tibet and accommodation with Taiwan had grown predictable.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Indonesians yesterday that she wants to open a "robust partnership" with their fast-growing country, President Barack Obama's boyhood home. Arriving here on the second stop of her first trip as the top American diplomat, Clinton also announced that the Obama administration intends to sign a treaty moving the U.S. closer to a key regional group, the Association of South East Asian Nations. The Bush administration declined to sign the treaty, a move that critics took as a sign of its lack of interest in the region and preoccupation with the Middle East.

TOKYO -In her first trip abroad as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton issued a sharp warning yesterday to North Korea over its threatened missile test, signed a military agreement with Japan and conferred with senior Japanese officials on topics that included the enveloping world financial crisis. But a 45-minute "town hall" meeting at the University of Tokyo also gave the country's chief diplomat a chance to project a softer American image. She avoided the phrase war on terror, which was standard terminology during the George W. Bush years.

On February 8, 2009, CLINTON D. GREEN SR., devoted husband of Catherine C. Green, beloved father of Clinton Jr. and Gregory Green. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST INC., 4300 Wabash Ave., on Friday, February 13 after 8:30am. On Saturday family will receive friends at Star of Bethlehem Church 10:30am. followed by Funeral Service at 11, at 1301 W. Fayette St.

When then-First Lady Hillary Clinton announced she was running for senator from New York in 2000, critics were quick to dismiss her as an unqualified, over-ambitious political neophyte aiming to cash in on her husband's name. Mrs. Clinton ran anyway and showed herself to be a formidable candidate, becoming the only first lady to run for office and the first female to represent New York in the U.S. Senate. Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of a former U.S. president, is, like Mrs. Clinton, a distinguished author, lawyer and longtime advocate of worthy causes, particularly in education and the arts.

WINTER PARK, Fla. - Her crowds are smaller now, and most of the reporters are gone. The campaign posters say his name, not hers. And instead of championing her ideas for health insurance or tax relief, Sen. Hillary Clinton is giving out 1-800 numbers and Internet addresses for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Watching Clinton campaign for her old rival, masking what friends say is lingering disappointment, it is easy to recall happier days. Of 20 Obama supporters interviewed about Clinton as she campaigned in Florida over the weekend, all praised her effusively.