Bill Clinton was in Brooklyn yesterday to endorse his former housing secretary, Andrew Cuomo. In front of a packed crowd at the New York City College of Technology, Clinton urged that this election was "serious business" and listed what he called Paladino's "greatest hits" of unsettling soundbytes -- like recalling when he said welfare recipients should be put into work camps. "What they need is a job, folks," the former president said.
Cuomo, who worked for the Clinton White House from 1997-2001, joked that he has not worked as hard since when he was working for Clinton.
The get out of the vote rally on Wednesday will be a great boon for Cuomo, who already has a comfortable lead over his opponents, going into next week's elections. "These past few weeks," Cuomo said, "you're starting to see the issues clarified and our opponents have actually had to say what they would do and what they believe and what their positions are and frankly Mr. President, the more they talk, the better we look, I'll tell you the truth."
The New York Times captured some video of the event (BELOW) and took note of the special "closeness" the two pols, old friends, share.
The former president and his onetime housing secretary, their grins real and broad, pumped fists, clasped hands and embraced..
Ask Mr. Cuomo about Mr. Clinton, and he invariably breaks out in a smile. "We were together for eight years," he said recently. "I was 35 when I went down. It was a big part of my life. It was a very eventful eight years."
Today, the two speak a few times a year -- "not as much as I would like," Mr. Cuomo said..
"I feel great about it. I'm very proud of him."