The 42nd president, who held the office from 1992-2000, gave a speech to a group of Hillary Clinton campaign volunteers and financial backers Thursday afternoon, a group that included two Colorado state lawmakers, according to the Denver Post newspaper.
The speech was not announced beforehand and came to light only after state Sen. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, and House Majority Leader Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, posted photographs of the event on social media, the newspaper said.
Duran later confirmed the visit in an interview with the newspaper, it said.
Hillary Clinton is the presumed front-runner in the campaign for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination, although she faces a spirited challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley.
Hillary Clinton previously sought the 2008 Democratic nomination but wound up second after a primary battle with current Pres. Barack Obama.
Bill Clinton’s praised his wife’s leadership abilities and economic agenda is his remarks, hours after doing the same thing at a rally in New Hampshire, the newspaper said based on Twitter posts from supporters.
“This has turned into an interesting election,” he told supporters in Salem, Vt., the newspaper said.
“We’re fighting it out in Iowa; we’ve got a little lead that I think is solidifying and maybe growing a little bit,” Bill Clinton said.
Hillary Clinton still faces questions about how she handled sensitive information as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Many of the questions have focused on her emailing practices which, perhaps interestingly, were managed by a Denver-based company, the newspaper said.
The secretive visit did attract the attention of some Colorado Republicans, however.
One group, Compass Colorado, accused her campaign of trying to hide Bill Clinton’s visit to deflect criticism.
“It’s clear that Hillary decided it would be best to keep reporters and the public in the dark about Bill’s visit, just as she did during Benghazi and now with the ever-growing secret-email scandal,” the group’s executive director, Kelly Maher, told the newspaper.
Primary season for the Democrats and the Republicans begins Feb. 1 with caucuses in Iowa.
