Arkansas Bumper Sticker Battle: "I Miss Bill" Vs. "Monica Misses Bill Too"
"Little Rock, Ark. - Skip Rutherford is not on the unofficial Clinton-tour brochure you get at the airport. But he ought to be. He is pulling on a bottle of Dr Pepper - no diet, full strength - in the hotel dining room and talking to me about his old friends, Bill and Hillary Clinton. Let's just say he's so practiced at it he almost makes you believe he enjoys it.
"And not long after we sit down, he has this to say about Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes: 'I learned long ago to never underestimate the Clintons. Never.' The Clintons have been, of course, the main topic of conversation in Arkansas for about 30 years. No one underestimates that. And Rutherford is the go-to guy for a reporter coming to town.
"He was the point man in building the Clinton Library, which is packed with tourists. He's the University of Arkansas' William J. Clinton professor at the Clinton School of Public Service, which is hard to fit on a business card. He met Bill and his girlfriend, Hillary, in 1974 during Bill's first campaign, his losing run for Congress. He was an adviser in Clinton's first presidential race. His daughter played softball with Chelsea. (Note: Chelsea caught and his daughter played third.) Rutherford knows where the bodies are buried, not that he'd tell you without a subpoena.
"He does advise a visit to the library and to the library gift shop, where the 'I Miss Bill' bumper stickers and T-shirts are best-sellers, which particularly annoys state Republicans. Later, one would slip me a copy of the unofficial counter-Clinton bumper sticker: 'Monica Misses Bill Too' - just to remind us that Arkansas, where politics can be a blood sport, is still very much Arkansas. And that the Clinton divide is as wide as ever."
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