Bill Clinton marks 20th anniversary of presidential bid this weekend

Things may be dreary and debt-ridden in Washington these days, but the Clintons are inviting the nation back to Little Rock, Ark., this weekend to take a stroll down memory lane to a time when things were better.

You can almost hear Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” in the background as the former First Couple prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of Bill Clinton’s announcement of his presidential candidacy.

Or is it Springsteen’s “Glory Days” we’re hearing?

The Clinton/Gore ’92 campaign reunion will include events ranging from a screening of “The War Room,” a documentary about the 1992 campaign and dedication of a Clinton Presidential Park bridge, to a Clinton White House staff reunion Saturday

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will step away from her duties as wife of the Arkansas governor who ran for president long enough to deliver a speech Friday afternoon at the Clinton Center.

A highlight of the two-day Clinton fest at the Clinton Presidential Center in the Arkansan state capital will be Friday’s panel discussion entitled, “Reimagining the Progressive Tradition: The Clinton/Gore campaign and the Emergence of a Democratic Agenda for the 21st Century.”

Panelists will include James Carville, Vernon Jordan, Al From – the founder of the Democratic Leadership Council whom President Clinton credits with making his election possible – and Lottie Shackelford.

Clinton is not listed as leading the discussion, but it’s hard to imagine the former president and now man-about-globe remaining too far in the background.

Clinton just wound up the annual meeting of his Clinton Global Initiative in New York, which included appearances from President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Since 2009 he is the United Nations’ special envoy to Haiti – where Haitian President Michel Martelly has just appointed him to chair an advisory board on development and investment.

And not to leave the impression that his international pursuits have him too busy to consider domestic affairs, Clinton will roll out in November his blueprint for America’s economic recovery in his new book, “Back to Work.”

Secretary Clinton, meanwhile, will do more at the Clinton nostalgia bash than recall the ups and downs of the 1992 campaign. She is scheduled to deliver remarks Friday afternoon as part of the Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series at the Clinton Presidential Center. Past lecturers include former Clinton administration secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and the former president himself.

Secretary Clinton hasn’t divulged her topic, but it’s a good bet she won’t be using the Clinton Center podium to announce a challenge to her boss for the Democratic nomination.

Earlier this month the periodic will-she-or-won’t-she speculation spiked again when former Vice-President Dick Cheney suggested on ABC news that Secretary Clinton would have made a better president than Obama, and said a Clinton primary challenge would be “good for the country [and] good for the Democratic Party.”

In response, Clinton told CNN the chances of her running are “below zero,” and she insisted that she is “not interested in being drawn back into [politics] by anybody.”

Which is not to say that she is above accompanying her husband back to Little Rock to relive old presidential campaign glories.