2o0w6d0y's Journal

The Arkansas Gazette, which had supported me in...
The Arkansas Gazette, which had supported me in every campaign, ran an editorial arguing that I shouldnt run for both of the reasons that concerned meWhile acknowledging my strong potential for national leadership, the Gazette said, Bill Clinton is not ready to be President and Governor Clinton is needed in Arkansas

Ambition is a powerful force, and the ambition to be President has led many a candidate to ignore both his own limitations and the responsibilities of the office he currently holdsI always thought I could rise to any occasion, stand the most withering fire, and do two or three jobs at onceIn 1987, I might have made a decision rooted in self-confidence and driven by ambition, but I didntWhat finally decided the question for me was the one part of my life politics couldnt reach: ChelseaCarl Wagner, who was also the father of an only daughter, told me Id have to reconcile myself to being away from Chelsea for most of the next sixteen monthsMickey Kantor was talking me through it when Chelsea asked me where we were going for summer vacationWhen I said I might not be able to take one if I ran for President, Chelsea replied, Then Mom and I will go without chanel quilted replica you

I went into the dining room of the Governors Mansion, where my friends were eating lunch, told them I wasnt running, and apologized for bringing them all downThen I went to the Excelsior to make my announcement to a few hundred supportersI did my best to explain how I had come so close, yet backed away:

I need some family time; I need some personal timePoliticians are people tooI think sometimes we forget it, but they really areThe only thing I or any other candidate has to offer in running for President is whats insideThats what sets people on fire and gets their confidence and their votes, whether they live in Wisconsin or Montana or New YorkThat part of my life needs renewalThe other, even more important reason for my decision is the certain impact that this campaign would have had on our daughterThe only way I could have won, getting in this late, after others had been working up to two years, would be to go on the road full-time from now until the end, and to have Hillary do the sameIve seen a lot of kids grow up under these pressures and a long, long time ago I made a promise to myself that if I was ever lucky enough to have a child, she would never grow up prada logos wondering who her father was

Though she had said she would support me whichever way I went, Hillary was relievedShe thought I should finish the work I had started in Arkansas and keep building a national base of supportAnd she knew it was not a good time for me to be away from our familiesMother was having problems in her anesthesia work, Roger had been out of prison only a couple of years, and Hillarys parents were moving to Little RockIn January 1983, during my swearing-in speech to the legislature, Hugh Rodham had slumped in his chairHe had suffered a massive heart attack and was rushed to the University Medical Center for quadruple-bypass surgeryI was with him when he woke upAfter I realized he was lucid, I said, Hugh, the speech wasnt good enough to give anyone a heart attack! In 1987, he had a minor strokeHugh and Dorothy didnt need to stay up in Park Ridge aloneWe wanted them nearby, and they were looking forward to the move, mostly to be near their only grandchildStill, it would be a big adjustment for them

Finally, Hillary was happy I didnt run because she disagreed with the conventional wisdom that the Democrats were likely to win in 1988She didnt think the Reagan omega speedmaster replica Revolution had run its course and believed that, despite the Iran-Contra affair, George Bush would win as a more moderate version of ReaganFour years later, when prospects for victory looked much darker, with President Bushs approval ratings over 70 percent, Hillary encouraged me to runAs usual, she was right both times

After the decision was announced, I felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from my shouldersI was free to be a father, husband, and governor, and to work and speak on national issues unencumbered by immediate ambitions

In July, Hillary, Chelsea, and I went to the summer governors conference in Traverse City, Michigan, to wrap up my year as chairmanI was succeeded by New Hampshire governor John Sununu, who promised to continue our work for welfare reform, and with whom I had a good relationshipAfter we adjourned, the Democratic governors went to Mackinaw Island, where Governor Jim Blanchard brought us together to meet with all our presidential candidates, including Senator Al Gore, Senator Paul Simon, Senator Joe Biden, Congressman Dick Gephardt, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, former governor Bruce Babbitt of Arizona, and Governor Mike DukakisI chanel j12 white watch thought we had a good field, but I favored DukakisIn Massachusetts he had presided over a successful high-tech economy, had balanced budgets, and had advanced both education and welfare reformHe was governing as a New Democrat, and he knew what it was like to lose an election to negative attacks and make a successful comebackEven though most Americans thought of Massachusetts as a liberal state, I believed we could sell him because he was a successful governor and would avoid the errors that had sunk us in previous electionsBesides, we were friendsMike was relieved when I didnt enter the race and gave me an early birthday present, a T-shirt inscribed with the words Happy 41stYoull only be 49!

At the end of the meeting, Jim Blanchard put on a terrific rock-and-roll concert featuring Motown artists from the sixties, including the Four Tops, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and JrWalker, a legendary tenor sax player who could make the horn play an octave higher than most of us mere mortals couldNear the end of the show, a young woman came up to me and invited me to play the sax with all the groups on the Motown standard Dancin in the StreetI hadnt played a note in three big black bag yea