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From Chapter One

TIME: "John Kennedy said that after he was elected, he began to think in terms of who it was he had to have in the room when he made the really big decisions. For him, that was Robert Kennedy. Who is it for you?"

BILL CLINTON: "Hillary."


With that simple one-word reply in december 1992, Bill Clinton adumbrated the complications that would bedevil his presidency. It showed his intention to expand his election victory--which he won with a mere 43 percent of the vote--to encompass Hillary, as if she had been on the ticket, too. Bill was giving her primacy even above his Vice President, Al Gore, a formidable politician with far greater experience. The President-elect was feeling understandably buoyant, and at such moments he could be incautious, saying more than he intended to. He was Time's "Man of the Year," and he was stating what was obvious to him and to Hillary.

Bill and Hillary had been using the first-person plural since his initial run for governor in 1978, when Bill told The New York Times, "Our vote was a vindication of what my wife and I have done and what we hope to do for the state." They were such a "working unit" in Arkansas that they became known as "Billary"--a term of disparagement as well as admiration. The areas in which they deferred to each other, their private roles, their spheres of political expertise, the way they presented themselves to the public--all these were set during Bill's long years as governor. So, too, were the habits and rhythms of their marriage: her tolerance of his philandering, for example, and his delegation of responsibilities to her. As in any marriage, each partner had domains of primacy. These arrangements traveled with them during the long campaign of 1992 and into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Bill Clinton's run for the presidency was a triumph of political skill, luck, intelligence, deception, resilience, and sheer endurance. It was a flawed victory in some crucial respects. His behavior had created doubts about his character, and he antagonized many potential allies. National political reporters were dazzled by Bill and Hillary's talent but also disillusioned by their apparent disingenuousness and inability to be forthright about themselves and their plans for the presidency. The Clintons were deeply shaken by the scrutiny of the press, an experience that colored their view of Washington and those responsible for telling their story. Bill doubtless would have lost the election without Hillary's unyielding support when his character was under attack. Her rescue of his candidacy had enormous public consequences, as it made him beholden to her in ways that pervasively influenced his administration's policies.

When Bill began thinking about running in early 1991, George H. W. Bush's approval ratings were hovering around 70 percent in the aftermath of the successful Gulf War. But with his sensitive political antennae, Bill picked up softness in that support. It was a time of uncertainty, economic weakness, and anti-incumbent sentiment. Bill was also reaching a point of diminishing returns in Arkansas; John Brummett, a savvy Arkansas political columnist, said Bill had been bored with his job since 1987. When he was reelected in 1990, he had faced stronger opposition than before. "The voters were getting tired of him," said political analyst Michael Barone. "For the Clintons it was up or out."

Bill caught some lucky breaks when his strongest potential rivals among moderate Democrats--Tennessee senator Al Gore, New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, and Delaware senator Joseph Biden--decided not to run. The most formidable liberal opponent,...