Bill Clinton to stump for Malloy in New Haven

Former President Bill Clinton chats with supporters at a rally for Congressman Jim Himes at SoNo Field House in Norwalk, Conn., Sunday, October 31, 2010. Clinton was a featured speaker during the rally where Democratic candidates Dan Malloy and Richard Blumenthal also were on hand.

Former President Bill Clinton chats with supporters at a rally for Congressman Jim Himes at SoNo Field House in Norwalk, Conn., Sunday, October 31, 2010. Clinton was a featured speaker during the rally where Democratic candidates Dan Malloy and Richard Blumenthal also were on hand.

The man from Hope, Ark., is being looked to as the next best hope for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Former President Bill Clinton will headline a rally Tuesday in New Haven for the state Democratic Party to help Malloy, who is facing a stout challenge from 2010 foe Tom Foley.

Bubba should feel right at home in the Elm City, which is where he attended Yale Law School and met Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The 42nd president returned to New Haven last October to see the former first lady, former U.S. secretary of state and 2016 White House contender receive the Yale Law School Association Award of Merit, a honor previously bestowed on him.

During the ceremony, Clinton mingled with Yale contemporary and current U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and current state Senate contender Ted Kennedy Jr.

While Clinton can do no wrong in the eyes of most Democrats, he did ruffle feathers on the far left in 2006 when he campaigned for incumbent Iraq war hawk Joe Lieberman during his Senate primary against anti-war candidate Ned Lamont.

Lamont won the primary, but lost the general election to Lieberman, who ran as an independent.

Clinton’s embrace of Lieberman at a Waterbury campaign rally inspired a political pin, known as “The Hug,” Lieberman’s answer to a pin created by Lamont’s supporters known as “The Kiss” that showed President George W. Bush kissing Lieberman after the 2005 State of the Union address.

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In 2010, Clinton campaigned for then-freshman U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., at a Norwalk rally that was attended by Malloy when he was a gubernatorial hopeful.

Clinton’s visit should help Democrats pad a war chest that is already flush with cash from an Aug. 20 fundraising visit by Vice President Joe Biden to the state.

Tickets to the rally are $50 per person.

Neil Vigdor