Naturally, the MSM is panting and fawning over the return of Bill Clinton to the campaign trail. Never mind what a reflection it is on “war hero” Kerry that he has to bring the most famous draft-dodger of all out to campaign for him. Never mind what it says about the state of things when Kerry, who desperately wants you to believe that he’s a sportsman, has to beg a barely-recovered heart patient out of recovery to come make a speech to shore up his effort.

And never mind what it says about the state of Kerry’s campaign that the DNC’s nominee for president has to look for saving to one-half of the team planning to return to the White House in 2008 (if Kerry loses). Conflict of interest, anyone? Is that…desperation I smell?

But never mind about Kerry for a minute; what’s Bill doing? I think it’s pretty common knowledge that the plan was/is for Hillary to take her turn as president (her official turn, I mean) in 2008. And the calculus is simple - if Kerry wins in 2004, Hillary has to wait until 2012 to run, at which time she’ll definitely be 65, and probably out of office if Giuliani runs against here in 2006.

Sooooo…it only makes sense to think that Hillary’s political ambitions are best served by a Kerry loss, which would perfectly position her (and Bill) to return as the “saviors” of the part in the 2008 race, a race which (so far) doesn’t actually have a presumptive Republican opponent in place.

Given that, what is Bill doing? Rush suggested that Bill is “covering his bases”: essentially, positioning himself to be able to say, “See, without me, Kerry wouldn’t have made it,” in case of a Kerry win, or to say, “If only I could have been there earlier, I could’ve pulled it out for Kerry,” in case Kerry loses. I think Rush is right on this, but I think there’s more.

Dick Morris suggested that Clinton just can’t resist the attention, the applause, the adulation, the limelight: he’s out there because it’s like catnip.

But I believe that the biggest reason Bill Clinton is out pretending to stump for Kerry (and I think it’s just that) is simply this: he knows that Hillary can’t (or won’t) do it, and he knows it has to be done. There are several reasons why Hillary has been preternaturally quiet this election season (has she ever been this quiet since 1991?). But I think the main one is that she gains absolutely no benefit from being connected in the minds of voters to this Kerry campaign. And this is true if he wins (which is a bad thing for her anyway), but especially if he loses. Just as Kerry has avoided like leprosy any mention of his intimate connection to the Dukakis disaster, likewise no one wishing to run in ‘08 will want to have any pesky “Kerry for President” speeches showing back up then.

So why does it have to be done, forcing Bill out of bed and onto the trail? Because the Clintons still control the DNC, but that control is tenuous, and might be slipping. If Kerry loses this election (and I might as well go out on a limb now and say I think that he will), McAwful is very likely out as the DNC boss. And the next DNC party chairman could not be more of a mindless Clinton hand puppet than McAuliffe, for the simple reason that it’s not possible.

The Clintons, both of them, cannot afford for major events — winning or losing this election, and the inevitable aftermath — to happen in the Democratic Party without their appearance of influence. And it’s a very fine line that they must walk, seeming to be involved enough to remain the party’s godfather(s), while not being involved enough to take the bullet for the failure, should Kerry lose.