text: "Financial Times FT.comPolitics & Foreign policyClinton's aim is true as Democrats' top gunBy Edward Luce in WashingtonPublished: October 12 2010 20:43 I Last updated: October 12 2010 20:43Nobody would go so far as to call it a comeback. But Bill Clinton's appearances on the midterm election trail are starting toturn voters' heads in a way that Barack Obama's simply are not.Democratic operatives say that Mr Clinton who went through in 1994 the kind of setback that pollsters say Mr Obama willface in less than three weeks is more effective at presenting the election as a choice between starkly differentalternatives rather than a referendum on what people think of the Obama administration.So far the president who has booked most of the next three weeks for campaigning has been unable to pull that off. Thisweek alone Mr Clinton has shaken up two Senate races — in Kentucky and West Virginia — with appearances that haveassisted Democratic candidates. Mr Clinton was due to speak in Las Vegas on Tuesday night to assist the embattledHarry Reid the Senate majority leader and then move onto California later in the week.""Bill Clinton is about as close to a secret weapon as the Democratic party has got"" says Norm Ornstein a political analystat the conservative American Enterprise Institute. ""He has this ability to fire up the Democratic base that almost nobodyelse can do right now."" Mr Clinton's intervention in Kentucky where Jack Conway the Democratic candidate is locked ina tight race with Rand Paul the Tea Party icon is a good case in point.At the weekend Mr Clinton described Mr Paul who wants drastically to shrink the size of the US federal government andhas talked of abolishing the Federal Reserve as a ""radical with no record to back it up"". Mr Paul who has never run forelected office hit back by reminding voters of Mr Clinton's former Monica Lewinsky scandal. ""I am not sure I would trust aman who had sex with an intern"" said Mr Paul. ""I mean do you think he's an honourable person?""Mr Paul's trip down memory lane appears to have backfired. Few voters seem to care any longer about a scandal thatoccurred amid what in retrospect looks like a golden age of balanced budgets job creation and the absence of foreignwars.""Bill Clinton's strength is that he knows how to fight back and turn adversity into advantage"" says Tad Devine a veteranDemocratic operative. ""He is also able to enter an individual race take the temperature understand what people arefeeling and then base his appeal to voters on that.""In the West Virginia Senate race where Joe Manchin the governor is trailing John Raese a wealthy local businessmanMr Clinton on Monday came out punching. Referring to Mr Raese's plush Florida vacation home the former presidentsaid: ""I'm here for a lot of reasons. One is that I don't think it's fair for West Virginia to have one senator and Florida tohave three.""Acknowledging voter anger in a state where Mr Obama has 29 per cent rating among the lowest in the country MrClinton added: 'I am old enough to know that if you make a decision when you are mad — and I am not just talking aboutpolitics here — there is about an 80 per cent chance you will make a mistake.""In contrast a lot of Democrats are critical of the way Mr Obama has framed the midterm campaign shifting from oneattack line to another without sticking to an overarching narrative. Last month Mr Obama turned on John Boehner theRepublican congressional leader in what looked like a move to depict him as the voters' alternative.More recently Mr Obama has switched to attacking the Chamber of Commerce for allegedly funnelling foreign money intoattack ads. But it has generated a lot of criticism. ""This election is awash with undisclosed money and it's fair to point outhow disadvantaged the Democrats have been"" says one consultant. ""But it isn't good politics at this late stage whenvoters clearly want to hear about the economy.""Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish toprint more to distribute to others.""FT"" and ""Financial Times"" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy policy I Terms© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2010."