Bill Clinton opening fundraising spree for wife's campaign

Former President Bill Clinton holds his hand to his heart at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock in this Nov. 14, 2014 file photo.
Former President Bill Clinton holds his hand to his heart at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock in this Nov. 14, 2014 file photo.

WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton is going on a fundraising swing reminiscent of his presidential campaigns of the 1990s. But this time he's doing it for his wife.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign has scheduled more than a dozen December events featuring the former president as her team prepares for an end-of-year finance deadline ahead of the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

After staying behind the scenes for much of the year, Bill Clinton has slowly begun taking a larger public role in the campaign. And it isn't just with fundraising. He introduced pop singer Katy Perry at a concert before the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner last month and appeared with his wife at a party barbecue in Ames, Iowa, last week.

The fundraising push comes as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton's main Democratic challenger, makes campaign finance reform a central part of his message. Hillary Clinton's ties to Wall Street and financial industry donors will influence her agenda, Sanders has said.

Bill Clinton kicks off December with fundraisers in Seattle, Los Angeles, the Phoenix area and in Laredo, Texas, where he will join with Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas congressman who represents the state's Rio Grande Valley.

The former president then raises money on Dec. 7 in Rhode Island with the state's Democratic governor, Gina Raimondo, and Rhode Island's congressional delegation. He headlines events in North Carolina later that same day.

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