Bill gets the nod over Tipper as sidekick pick

BY GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau

June 8, 2006

WASHINGTON - Bubba tops Tipper in the battle for first spouse.

New Yorkers overwhelmingly sided with Bill Clinton over Tipper Gore - 55 percent to 29 percent - when asked who would make the better presidential sidekick.

Almost every person asked the question responded with a chuckle, according to pollster Mickey Blum. The results were more a reflection of voters' "affection for Bill Clinton" than hostility to Tipper Gore, she said.

"I feel very disappointed with his behavior in the White House, but he still did a lot for his country," Frances Schoenberger, 70, of Bellmore, said of Clinton. "I would like to see him back in the White House in any capacity."

Judy Klein, 61, an engineering technician from St. James who wants to see Bill as the first first husband, said, "The only thing I'd be worried about is that he's so powerful he might try to tell her what to do."

But Blum thinks that Bill Clinton's influence on his wife would actually make it easier for some voters to accept a woman in the Oval Office.

"The buy-one-get-one-free thing didn't turn out so well with Hillary as first lady because people may not have been comfortable with a powerful woman behind the scenes," Blum said. "But it might have a much more positive effect if the spouse is Bill."