Who

The 42nd President of the United States, Bill is better known these days for having mucked up his wife's chances on the presidential campaign trail. His wife, of course, is Hillary Clinton. You're probably familiar with his daughter, too, Ms. Chelsea Clinton.

Backstory

William Jefferson Blythe III was born in Hope, Ark. and raised by his mother. His father, a traveling salesman, died in a traffic accident three months before he was born, and Bill took his (gambling, womanizing) stepfather's name after his mom remarried. Despite his very modest upbringing, Clinton managed to lift himself up quite nicely: He attended Georgetown on a scholarship, headed off to Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship (where he famously smoked pot), and then enrolled at Yale Law, where he met a sexy blonde by the name of Hillary Rodham.

Bill and Hillary married a year after his first unsuccessful bid for political office: He ran for the House in 1974 and ended up losing by a slim margin. He did better two years later when he ran to become Arkansas's attorney general. But he only spent two years as AG before setting his political ambitions higher: In 1978, he pursued the governorship and won, making him the youngest governor in the country at the time. Bill lost the job two years later, but his can-do spirit helped him reclaim the seat in 1982—and he held on to it tight this time, spending a decade as Arkansas's top official as he also developed a profile on the national Democratic scene.

Bill tossed his hat in the ring for president in 1992, and despite his youth and relative inexperience, he started out the race as the Democratic frontrunner. When allegations surfaced about possible extra-marital affairs, his candidacy lost momentum, but the Comeback Kid managed to ultimately prevail in the Dem primary and went on to beat George H.W. Bush in the general election, thanks in large part to a wacky old billionaire by the name of Ross Perot who siphoned off conservative voters.

Bill spent two terms in office, during which time he successfully introduced several new "-gates" into the popular vernacular (Troopergate, Filegate, Travelgate) and familiarized us with a handful of colorful characters, including Paula Jones, Jim and Susan McDougal, and, of course, Monica Lewinsky. But plenty of good was accomplished, too: Clinton's presidency was marked by a massive economic boom; major pieces legislation like Family and Medical Leave Act; welfare reform; and a historic peace-keeping mission to Bosnia. Yes, he had his shortcomings. He never did manage to broker that peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians that he spent so much time talking about. He didn't lift a finger as nearly a million people were slaughtered during the Rwandan genocide. And then there Clinton's critics on the right, who will tell you he didn't take decisive enough action in the wake of first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, actions that could have possibly headed off Sept. 11th. (Probably not.) But after eight years aboard the roller-coaster that was the Clinton administration, he walked out of the White House in 2001 at the age of 54, making him the youngest ex-president ever.

Of note

Clinton heads up the William J. Clinton Foundation, which focuses on global health and AIDS, economic development, leadership development, and racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation. This largely involves him flying around the world, meeting very important people, and giving very important speeches—sort of what a president does except you don't have authority to set off any missiles.

Naturally, Clinton has had plenty to do in addition to heading up his non-profit foundation. In 2004, he released an autobiography, My Life. In September 2007, he published another book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World. He hit the road with former President George H. W. Bush to raise funds for poverty-stricken regions in Southeast Asia that were devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami, and they did much the same in the aftermath of victims of Hurricane Katrina. And whenever he has an hour or two to spare, he heads off to a hotel ballroom or suburban office park to talk about "courage" and "faith" in front of a bunch of suited-up execs and walks away with a six-figure check for his troubles.

When Hillary first announced that she planned to run for president, most observers imagined Bill would be one of Hillary's greatest weapons on the campaign trail. A charismatic former president with high approval ratings, he'd remind us all of what it was like to have a president with a brain—or so the theory went. Alas. Unfortunately for Hillary, her husband's rhetorical gifts appear to have withered in recent years. Bill became a major liability as he made off-the-cuff comments that offended and insulted, got flustered and angry at reporters, and clumsily wielded his substantial political influence. Perhaps the silver lining to Hillary's losing bid for the Democratic nomination is that he can now skulk off into the shadows (a bit) and continue his active social life without fear his antics will become front-page news, as was the case in the waning days of Hillary's presidential campaign when Vanity Fair suggested he'd had liaisons with Gina Gershon and former Canadian politico Belinda Stronach, among others.

Scandal

Scandals? Ah, yes, Bill's presidency was a dramatic one, although when you consider his youth—and the fact that he grew up driving an El Camino with Astroturf lining the car's bed—it's hard to imagine how he would have ever survived eight years in the White House without a little punany on the side. There was Ms. Gennifer Flowers, who set off the first "bimbo eruption," as one of his aides referred to it. Then there were those pesky questions about a land deal in Arkansas that came to be known as Whitewater. In 1994, Paula Jones thrust her giant nose into the spotlight and sued Clinton for sexual harassment; Ken Starr was eventually appointed special prosecutor to investigate the charges, and his work led him to Monica Lewinsky.

Bill's shenanigans—not the acts themselves, the lying about them afterwards—ultimately led to charges of perjury, and in 1998, he was impeached by the House. The Senate failed to convict him, of course (and Clinton's approval rating actually went up in the process). But scandal seemed to follow behind him until the very end. He left the White House amid controversy when on his last day as president, January 20, 2001, he pardoned some 140 people, including people like financier (and Democratic donor) Marc Rich. He's since generated some drama for his friendships with various sleazy Hollywood moguls (like Ron Burkle and Steve Bing) and  for his rumored romances with a handful of women.

By the numbers

From 2001 through 2007, Clinton made nearly $40 million in speaking fees, much of which has gone into the coffers of his foundation. In 2001, he got an advance in the neighborhood of $10 million for his memoir, My Life. He also gets $158,100 annual federal pension, which should just about cover his pay-per-view habit.

Health report

In late 2004, the longtime McDonald's aficionado complained of shortness of breath during his exercise routine and an angiogram revealed extensive artery blockage. On September 6th, just two months before the hotly contested presidential election of 2004, Dr. Craig Smith of New York-Presbyterian performed a successful quadruple bypass operation on the former president; in 2005, he had surgery to remove fluid and scar tissue from his chest cavity. Clinton has since become a sworn-subscriber to the South Beach Diet. Or so he says.

Upcoming

An official history of the Clinton presidency, based on conversations Clinton had during his time in office with historian Taylor Branch, is slated for publication in late 2008. Tina Brown is also working on a book on the Clintons, which will be published in 2010.

Personal

Clinton and the junior Senator from New York were married in 1975, after meeting in the library of the Yale Law School. Their daughter, Chelsea, who was born in 1980, works for hedge fund Avenue Capital, which happens to be run by Democratic donor Marc Lasry. The couple lives in Chappaqua—they paid $1.7 million for the home in 1999. The 5,232-square-foot Dutch Colonial mansion sits on 1.1 acres at the end of a cul-de-sac, and has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a pool, and a barn that has been turned over to the Clintons' Secret Service detail. They also own a $2.85 million home in Washington, D.C. The Clintons live alone—Bill's beloved dog Buddy was hit by a car and killed outside the family home in 2002.