By J.F.O. McAllister

Bagging a new millennium for your boss is the kind of prize an imagemaker trembles to think of. And Bill Clinton's are the best: brilliantly attuned to the subtle currents of public opinion, navigating skillfully with probing polls to get their man on the right side of history. They just love to take advantage of big nonpolitical events, like a little spacecraft getting a boost in speed by whipping around a planet on the way to its far-off destination. Take the Olympics: huge amounts of time were spent by top Administration officials (Gore and McLarty) to make sure they came off smoothly. Communications Director Don Baer made a secret trip to Atlanta to scout out sites and figure out how to get maximum patriotic exposure for Clinton as First Fan without appearing too obvious about it.

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