Bill Clinton Barnstorms Hard For Wife Hillary Ahead Of New York Primaries

In New York, former President Bill Clinton is drumming up support for wife Hillary ahead of the state’s crucial April 19 primaries. Clinton, who served as the 42nd President of the United States from January 20, 1993, to January 20, 2001, is encouraging state voters to rally around his other half’s campaign in hopes of obtaining the Empire State’s massive 291 delegates.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton made history when she became New York’s first female Senator in 2000. Currently, Mrs. Clinton is 671 delegates shy of securing the parties’ presidential nomination. The former Hillary Rodham leads rival Bernie Sanders by 701 delegates, according to the New York Daily News.

However, over the course of the previous weekend, the Vermont Senator stunned the 67th Secretary of State in picking up the delegate majority in Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.

In the wake of Sanders’ surge, husband and political stalwart Bill has left nothing to chance, as Clinton has used his considerable clout in hopes of rebuking Sanders’ come-from-behind efforts. Concerning the importance of the New York primary, Clinton had this to say to the New York Times:

“The New York primary and the psychological impact it will have on the rest of the country and the rest of this race is not — I don’t have the words to explain it. I can just tell you that, for her, it means more than you will ever know.”

Originally born in Hope, Arkansas, Bill Clinton has become a transplanted New Yorker over the past decade and a half. Clinton holds courtside seats to Brooklyn Nets games, enjoys annual vacations in the famed Hamptons, and has an office in Harlem.

During a busy week of barnstorming, on Monday, Mr. Clinton met with a group of influential African American religious and community leaders from Harlem and Queens to discuss pressing topics. On Thursday morning, Clinton held similar meetings with leaders from the Bronx’s Latino community.

At Clinton’s Thursday morning get-together, the former President spoke with members of the Service International Members Union, who were accompanied by Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr. Later that afternoon, the affable, elder-statesman held court with local teachers in Battery Park City, giving a recount of his wife’s Senatorial campaign polling data from 2000.

While tirelessly taking the stump for his wife’s historical presidential run, Bill Clinton had this to say to the New York Times concerning Hillary’s nine-year run as New York’s first female Senator:

“It’s important to her (Hillary Clinton) personally because she loved being a senator, and she knows this state and she knows what its promise is.”

Clinton and husband Bill are banking on that near-decade spent in elected office to pay off in spades come April 19. Both Clintons will be hitting the campaign trail on Friday. Bill will be making a speech at Milwaukee’s Lawrence University Friday morning, beginning at 10:30 am.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton will hold three Friday events: two in Syracuse, New York, and a fundraiser in Tenafly, New Jersey. In total, Bill Clinton will make five more campaign appearances ahead of the pivotal April 19th showdown. Daughter Chelsea is also heavily contributing to her mother’s presidential bid by making a number of upcoming speeches.

Bill Clinton, now 69-years of age, was heralded for bringing America back to financial prosperity following an economic recession in the early 90s. His name-value and silver-tongued orations should lend further credence to his wife’s already blossoming bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

[Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images]