Bill Clinton undertakes payback campaign tour

Washington, June 14 (ANI): Bill Clinton's headlong jump into the 2010 election cycle to support his family's long term supporters might have gone unnoticed, but the former US president has deployed all his political star power to campaign for allies in eight states.

While media attention has focused largely on Clinton's campaign on behalf of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe's unsuccessful bid, it has now emerged that his efforts on behalf of the longtime Clinton family fundraiser were just a small part of a larger, ongoing payback tour, The Politico reports.

Since January, Clinton has held a series of events to benefit his and his wife's political friends, including Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler, North Carolina state Senator Julia Boseman, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, all of whom face the voters in 2010.

The newest campaign stop on his schedule is an upcoming fundraiser for Ohio Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, a candidate for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Senator George Voinovich.

He even issued an endorsement in a Democratic primary for the Virginia House of Delegates, backing Adam Parkhomenko, a 23-year-old who worked on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

"One nice thing about the Clintons: when you work for them, there's a bond there and they always want to keep it," said Scranton, Pa., Mayor Chris Doherty, for whom Clinton recently recorded robocalls to boost his reelection campaign.

Doherty worked for Hillary Clinton's campaign in the long run-up to the Pennsylvania primary, and before that organized volunteers to campaign for the then-New York senator in next-door Ohio.

He met former President Clinton at a fundraising reception he and his wife held at their house for the Clinton presidential campaign.

At the time, Doherty said, Clinton told him: "If I can ever help you out, let me know."

"I called him and asked him, would you do a robocall for me?" Doherty said. "And he said, sure, glad to do it." (ANI)