According to two former Clinton White House aides it is a long shot that Bill would join the senate but one that the former president should consider.
The same can't be said for two of Clinton's top advisers from the 1990s. "As a senator, he'd be a knockout," former White House aide Harold Ickes told the Washington Examiner newspaper on Monday, adding that the scenario was a long shot.
Paul Begala, a 1992 Clinton campaign aide and CNN regular, added, "Why not? ... He excelled as attorney general and governor of Arkansas, excelled as president and he's been a model of the modern Senate spouse."
Two things would have to happen in order for former President Bill Clinton to take office. First his wife Hillary Clinton would have to win the 2008 Presidential Election and then New York Governor Eliot Spitzer would need to fill the vacancy with the former president.
This is quite unlikely to happen as New York has many other fine Democrats waiting in the House and Statewide offices but there is a better reason why it should not happen. Since leaving office Bill Clinton has undertaken the role of a massive fundraiser for global issues such as poverty, AIDS and his successful role with George H.W. Bush for Hurricane Katrina relief. The Global Clinton Initiative has been an extremely successful organization by bringing other non-profits together as well as delivering massive amounts of money to smaller ones.
CGI brings together a community of global leaders (CGI "members") to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Ongoing working groups focus on issues that include poverty, climate change, global health, and religious and ethnic conflicts. All CGI members—who come from diverse entities including business, non-governmental organizations, foundations, philanthropy, and government—are required to make a specific action commitment each year to help address one or more of these problems. Commitments can be made to any cause or organization of the member’s choosing, and can any number of forms including financial contributions, an investment of time, or the application of special expertise. Over the past two years more than 500 commitments have been made by CGI members, totaling nearly $10 billion and benefiting the work of more than 1,000 organizations.
He is better suited as a popular former president that can raise millions of dollars to organizations that bring about change rather than being a freshmen senator from New York.
Cross posted at Faithfully Liberal.