Former President Bill Clinton said Thursday he thinks that Barack Obama
will win big in the upcoming presidential election.
CNN NEWS
"I
predict that Sen. Obama will win and win handily," Clinton said when
asked his opinion on the state of the race.
Obama smiled at Clinton's prediction, saying, "There you go, you can
take it from the president of the United States. He knows a little
something about politics."
The two men chatted with reporters in a photo-op at Clinton's Harlem
office before sitting down for a private lunch.
According to CNN's average of national polls, John McCain currently
holds a 1-point lead over Obama, 46-45 percent.
The poll of polls, released Thursday afternoon, is composed of the
following five national general election surveys: Fox News/Opinion
Dynamics (September 8-9), NBC/Wall Street Journal (September 6-8),
American Research Group (September 6-8), Gallup (September 8-10), and
Diageo/Hotline (September 8-10). It does not have a sampling error.
Clinton is scheduled to campaign for Obama in Florida once he wraps up
some business with his Clinton Global Initiative. According to aides,
the former president will do a mix of fundraisers and public appearances
on behalf of the Democratic ticket throughout the fall.
"We're putting him to work," said Obama.
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"I've agreed to do a substantial number of things, whatever I'm asked to
do," Clinton said.
The image of the two men meeting comes as a relief to many Democrats who
have been hoping to put to rest the "Clinton-Obama rift" storyline. Both
sides agreed a face-to-face meeting with the former president would go a
long way toward putting the contentious primary season behind them.
Hillary Clinton campaigned for Obama earlier in the week in Florida and
will campaign in Ohio this weekend.
