Democrats want to give Bill Clinton a job

MANCHESTER, N.H., June 4 (Reuters) Democratic presidential hopefuls squabbled over most issues at a debate, but they agreed on one thing: If elected, they would give Bill Clinton a job.

The fact that the former president's name was invoked reflected the popularity of Clinton more than six years after he left office.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was secretary of energy and US ambassador to the United Nations in Clinton's administration, said he would want Clinton to be secretary-general of the United Nations and failing that, a Middle East peace negotiator.

''I believe he is needed in the Middle East,'' Richardson said yesterday during the debate at St. Anselm College.

Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel said he would make Clinton a ''roving ambassador around the world'' -- and that he could take along his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama did not have a specific job in mind but said Clinton's ability to ''build alliances and relationships around the world'' would be needed.

And Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for her party's nomination, could only chuckle at the attention given her husband, reiterating he would play a diplomatic role in her administration.

''When I become president, Bill Clinton, my dear husband, will be one of the people who will be sent around the world as a roving ambassador to make it very clear to the rest of the world that we're back to a policy of reaching out and working and trying to make friends and allies and stopping the alienation of the rest of the world,'' she said.

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