'Lynda's List' keeps Clintons up on friends in state

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a public memorial service for Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz Wednesday, June 4, 2014, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Katz and six others died when his private jet crashed during takeoff on Saturday, May 31, 2014, in Massachusetts. He was 72. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a public memorial service for Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz Wednesday, June 4, 2014, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Katz and six others died when his private jet crashed during takeoff on Saturday, May 31, 2014, in Massachusetts. He was 72. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

While Bill and Hillary Clinton were vacationing in August at their rented mansion on a scenic bluff in the Hamptons, they read a flurry of email updates from an earlier life.

At 7:41 one Monday morning, the Clintons received word that the elderly mother of longtime Little Rock radio and television personality Craig O'Neill had passed away.

A few days later, another bulletin: Rufus Ellis "Buddy" Tate Jr., a farmer and lumberer from Marvell, Ark., died five days shy of his 100th birthday. His only child, Sherman Tate, is an old friend of Bill's.

Then another: Dorothy Jean Darr Martinous died at age 98. She had been active for decades in Arkansas Democratic politics.

In each case, the notices came from a 70-year-old retiree named Lynda Dixon, who worked as Bill Clinton's personal secretary when he was governor of Arkansas and now fires off emails to her old boss, Hillary Rodham Clinton and their aides from her home in downtown Little Rock.

"Lynda's List," as her under-the-radar alumni news service is called, is an example of the Clintons' attention to detail in maintaining their formidable political network, which remains perhaps deepest in Arkansas. The couple's strong ties to the state have been highlighted this year as Bill spends time here stumping on behalf of Democratic candidates in the November midterms.

After the Clintons packed up from Arkansas in 1993 to move to the White House, never to return permanently, Dixon stayed behind and kept the couple up to date with news from their sprawling -- and aging -- network of friends and acquaintances. Once full of wedding and baby announcements, or reports of a new job or award, Dixon's notices nowadays more commonly deliver word of who is sick, who has died or who needs a helping hand.

"I am the one that knows who his friends were, all his constituents that were important to him -- I just send notices to him and Hillary," Dixon said. Unlike many Clinton hands who lead public careers, Dixon has served the couple in near-anonymity.

The Clintons have staffs in New York and Washington, but, Dixon said, those aides "don't know the Devoe Bollingers of the world. He was one of the president's constituents, one of his supporters, an old cattle farmer from Horatio, Ark."

Dixon said she scours the obituary pages of local newspapers and calls funeral homes looking for familiar names. At the top of each email to the Clintons, Dixon writes the name, address and phone number of the subject (or, in the case of death, a next-of-kin). Those people often get a call from Bill. A few days later, a warm letter from Hillary. And in some instances, the Clintons fly home to attend funerals, as Bill did Aug. 15 in Hot Springs, where he bade farewell to Margaret "Marge" Mitchell, a close friend of his late mother. The former president was an honorary pallbearer.

"You may move from your hometown, you may move from your home state, but you don't forget from where you came, and Bill Clinton is the prime example of that," said Skip Rutherford, a longtime Clinton adviser and friend who serves as dean of the University of Arkansas' Clinton School of Public Service.

Hillary returned to Little Rock this May for the opening of the Clinton Presidential Center's temporary blown-glass exhibit by artist Dale Chihuly. And she came in June to sign copies of her latest book, Hard Choices, at a suburban Wal-Mart.

But in this high-stakes election year, it's Bill who's been an especially frequent visitor, throwing himself into Arkansas races. With his sky-high popularity, he is trying to boost some longtime friends, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross.

In August, Clinton headlined a Democratic Party fundraiser at Little Rock's historic Capital Hotel, and associates said he is coming back in September and October to campaign.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, said that when he asked Clinton's staff if he would come to the August events, "they weren't real high on him coming" because the Clintons were vacationing. But once Beebe got the former president on the phone to personally invite him, it was easy to get to "yes."

"A vacation from vacation is probably consistent with his personality," Beebe said. In Arkansas, he added, "he soaks up information like a sponge. He's always wanting to know the politics; he's always wanting to know the policy."

Clinton is eyeing the race to succeed Beebe with special interest. Ross, a protege who got his start in politics as Clinton's 21-year-old driver during the 1982 governor's campaign.

Clinton helped persuade Ross to run for governor and has counseled him throughout the race.

And all the while, Bill Clinton continues keeping busy reconnecting with old friends in Arkansas.

After Clinton's August fundraiser, George Hale, 69, settled into a couch in the lobby. When a reporter introduced himself, Hale said, "I'm an F.O.B. Friend of Bill."

This May, after Hale's wife died, Hale said Clinton "sent me a little handwritten note saying he was very sorry for the loss."

How did Clinton know about Hale's loss? Lynda's List, of course.

A Section on 09/01/2014

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