Bill Clinton, Married to Hillary Clinton, Democratic 2008 Candidate

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images for the Clinton Foundation. Former President Bill Clinton tours the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania on the final day of his trip to Africa, July 24, 2007, on behalf of the Clinton Foundation.

Publicly, former President Bill Clinton has sporadically campaigned for his wife, and only at the invitation of her campaign staff.

While Bill is widely acknowledged as perhaps the most popular Democrat in the U.S., a briliant political strategist and an extraordinarily talented campaigner, his presence is also viewed as a liability for Hillary Clinton's 2008 drive for the presidency for several reasons, including reminding voters about:

• old scandals and investigations involving the Clintons;
• Congressional gridlock and frustration during his presidency; and
• marital indiscretions.

Behind the scenes, however, Bill Clinton has spearheaded much of the fundraising for Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign, and has been headline speaker and chief rainmaker at innumerable private fundraisers, including a $2,300-a-plate affair in Florida on August 6, 2007, an event in Manhattan on March 18, 2007 that purportedly netted $1 million, and a unique $2,300-per-bike spinning class at a tony Manhattan gym.

Since leaving the White House, Bill Clinton has devoted time to public speaking, writing, and supporting his presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas.

But the majority of his post-presidential efforts have been invested in the William J. Clinton Foundation, which has been unusually effective at promoting and providing internationally for four main goals:

• health security, including HIV/AIDS
• economic empowerment
• leadership development and citizen service
• racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation

Personal Data
Marriage: to Hillary Diane Rodham on October 11, 1975. (For more info, see Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton Marriage Profile.)

Children: Chelsea (b. 1980)

Education: B.S. in foreign service in 1968 from Georgetown University. J.D. in 1973 from Yale University Law School, after studying government at Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship.

Birth: August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas to Virginia Cassidy Blythe. His father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., died in a car accident before Clinton was born. He adopted the surname of Roger Clinton, whom his mother married in 1950.