He was supposed to be the secret weapon. A wildly popular ex-president whose broad appeal would cement a Hillary victory. Three days away from the election and the supposed Great Communicator, Bill Clinton, is nowhere to be found. On the campaign trail he’s been met with great admiration, but also with a distinct rancor that not even our sitting president has had to face. Protestors shouting “BILL’S A RAPIST!” or “BILL IS CORRUPT!” has become such a regular occurrence that Bill has been delegated to small, easily-controlled town hall environments.

For die-hard fans of the Bill Clinton White House—this election has been disappointing. Voters who were looking forward to a blast-to-the-past time in politics when Bill Clinton was galvanizing democrats with his southern charm have been greeted by a different Bill. A Bill that at times has become unhinged and defensive; contradictory to the cool, easygoing politician from Arkansas that most Americans fell in love with. Instead, he has foolishly spent his time on the trail defending his presidency and not vouching for his wife.

However, in defense of Bill, this is uncharted territory. Bill is attempting to pioneer a new role, the First Husband. And compound that with the fact that he’s an ex-president with baggage of his own means Bill is in a precarious positon. A weary positon that has been under attack by the Trump campaign during this whole election cycle. Three days away from election day and it can be said with confidence that the Trump team succeeded in nullifying Bill’s effectiveness.

From the start, the Trump campaign mounted an all-out offensive on Bill and his role as a surrogate. This isn’t a mark of ingenuity from the Trump team, but a route that had been explored and mastered by a 90’s Republican led House. Because of Bill’s prominence, he has a litany of failures as a public servant to attack.  Furthermore, the Trump campaign has called into question the legitimacy and ethics of the Clinton Foundation which has created headaches for Hillary. Also, because of our current political climate, especially regarding Black Lives Matter—Bill’s popularity with millennials and blacks is fleeting.

Ultimately, what may be the cause of Bill’s undoing is that the Democratic Party is not the same party is was during 1992. If on November 8, Hillary becomes the presumptive president-elect she will have done so in spite of Bill and not because of him.

It is no surprise to anyone that Hillary Clinton has a tough time reaching out to millennials. It’s pretty hard to shore up the millennial vote when you’re a candidate that is supposed to represent everything they hate. Clinton is an established politician, moderate democrat, and her hawkish demeanor is all too reminiscent of a nagging parent. Millennial outreach is an especially difficult task for the Clinton campaign because of the success of Bernie Sanders and the lasting grievances Bernie bros are carrying.

Much like Trump, Sanders ran a populist campaign, however, Bernie’s was predicated on the future—instead of Trump’s take-me-back-to-1952 campaign. Sanders primary race was perhaps the strongest candidacy in regards to mobilizing the young. It for this very reason that Hillary Clinton understands the importance of Bernie’s influence on the general election. The question now is whether or not Bernie understands his role in the Clinton campaign.

As of right now Bernie and Hillary can wholeheartedly agree on one thing: Donald Trump is unqualified to be the POTUS. The Clinton campaign has delegated Bernie to spots where he feels communicatively comfortable: his New England area and college campuses. What is noteworthy is that whenever Bernie stumps on behalf of Hillary he tends to focus on everything but actually mentioning Hillary. Bernie is an interesting surrogate because his rallies feel like a shadow campaign. He’s continued with his primary stump speeches—making the %1 pay their fair share, college affordability, and fair trade.

Because of this the Clinton campaign is in a sticky situation. Bernie is accomplishing his surrogate role by staying with his primary rhetoric that did such a good job at galvanizing the young vote, and Hillary Clinton doesn’t have to make mention of those issues that might alienate some moderate democrats. However, the Clinton camp must make a concerted effort to restrain Bernie and not let him overshadow or undermine the actual candidate.

If you haven’t noticed, Barack Obama really wants Hillary Clinton to be president. He’s scheduled to appear this week at three major states Hillary needs to put the race away for good: Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina. Obama’s heavy campaigning is unprecedented for a sitting president, and earlier this week he announced around 150 down-the-ticket endorsements.

So why is President Obama so eager to assume a lame duck role? Well, I have three theories: Obama, the golfer, has his eyes set on a currently weak GPA tour, after 8 years of republicans who obstruct justice and abdicate their duties he wants to get far far away, or he desperately wants to hand down his legacy to a candidate who is ready to build on top of it.

Honestly, as much as I’d love to believe in Barack’s 7-iron, he’s probably concerned about how historians will judge him post-presidency. And if a candidate like Trump who has promised to repeal Obamacare, shoot down every executive order Obama made, and took about 6 years to call him a U.S. citizen—gets elected, he understands his presidency will be forever tainted and undermined by the damage a Trump presidency is capable of.

What I’m trying to say is that Obama doesn’t care about getting Hillary, Bernie, Joe, or a liberal-arts graduate who lives in Mom’s basement elected—he just doesn’t want to get a republican elected. Obama’s campaign rhetoric has been noteworthy this election cycle. “All that progress goes out the window if we don’t make the right choice just four weeks from today,” Obama said at an Oct. 11 appearance in Greensboro, N.C. Statements like this have been common from Obama this past month.

Now, Barack Obama is probably the best politician in the world right now. He understands that if not for a constitutional amendment he would have whipped any candidate the republicans threw at him. So Obama’s campaign strategy this cycle isn’t about Hillary Clinton—it’s about Barack Obama. He’s telling people that this is just as much about him than it is about Trump or Clinton. Obama’s even using some incumbent strategies. He has entrenched the U.S. into an international struggle with the undergoing Battle of Mosul. And he’s used his high-profile on platforms like snapchat, Instagram, and late-night shows to spread the word. He’s pretty much running for a third-term.

On October 13, Michelle delivered one of the best speeches given by a Clinton surrogate thus far. Obama’s speech was arguably better than the one she gave at the DNC because of the immediacy of her words. Obama spent most of her time discussing the Trump tape that disparaged women and glamorized sexual assault. Her speech was a gold standard when it came to what a surrogate should accomplish for a campaign—It was incisive, topical, and deeply moving in a way that Hillary Clinton has never been.

One of the reasons that Michelle Obama is such an effective surrogate is because out of all of Clinton’s high-profile surrogates she is the lone Washington outsider. Michelle Obama can earnestly take the politics away from an issue and talk about it from the perspective of a mother, wife, and concerned activist. At one point she said, “I know it’s a campaign, but this isn’t about politics.” She went on to bolster her argument by speaking authoritatively about her initiative, Let Girls Learn; A program that the First Lady herself has played a huge role in creating and advocating. A program that boosts Obama’s credibility as a champion for women’s rights, and makes Obama’s scathing speech all the more debasing for Trump.

For the past eight years, Michelle Obama’s favorability ratings have been fantastic. Because of this she has become the ultimate weapon is this campaign. It is not coincidence that the Clinton camp sent her to New Hampshire, a state that along with two others (Pennsylvania & Virgina) will cement a Clinton victory. All three are states that will be decided by the middle-class, college-educated women who deeply admire the first lady.

Ultimately, Michelle Obama has distinguished herself from the rest of the Clinton surrogate pack. Last Thursday she reiterated the overarching narrative that the Clinton campaign is creating ‘Donald Trump is wildly unfit to be President of the United States’. She is a weapon that the Trump campaign has absolutely no, (not even Melania Trump), answer to and just might cost them this election.

 

Tim Kaine possesses an affable, gregarious, middle-class father personality that complements well with Hillary’s sometimes hawkish demeanor. It is for that reason, to the outcry of the far-left, he was chosen to be Hillary’s ultimate surrogate– her vice-presidential running mate. Kaine’s communicative skills, however, are weak in today’s harsh political climate.

For months, Kaine has been using his down-to-earth sometimes sheepishly heartwarming rhetoric to soften the edges around the Clinton campaign. When Clinton introduced Kaine as her running mate he proceeded to give a speech that fluctuated between English and Spanish. A move that has polled well within many Latino communities, and further reiterates the public perception of ‘Cool Dad Kaine’. Since then, Kaine has proved to be a versatile surrogate with broad appeal. With African-Americans, Kaine calls on his past as a civil-rights lawyer and his membership in a largely black church. As aforementioned, he’s weaponized his proficiency in Spanish as a way to connect with Latino voters. And lastly, his family-first, god-fearing, middle- class background has proven to be a successful rhetoric among white voters.

 

Having said this, conventional wisdom says Kaine should be a feared surrogate to the GOP opposition. However, the 2016 presidential race is no conventional campaign. With all the nastiness and insults involved in this race, Hillary Clinton needs surrogates that can be attack dogs for her. And this just isn’t Kaine’s forte; if Kaine chooses to succumb to all the nasty rhetoric he risks jeopardizing the Cool-Dad attitude that voters admire. For this very reason Kaine has found himself marginalized by the Clinton campaign.

 

On the biggest stage of his life, the vice-presidential debate, he had a chance to consolidate his affability with the attack dog mentality that is necessary in these kinds of debate. Kaine failed. Throughout the debate he appeared unhinged and flustered. The defining moment came when in response to a question about the Syrian refugee crisis he inexplicably went on a tangent over Donald Trump’s tax records. Furthermore, Kaine interrupted Pence around 70 times. What’s to blame isn’t Pence’s dodgy style and refusal to live in a world where the things Trump says exist. But Kaine’s close to impossible task of balancing the non-threatening, oh-gee-almighty dad narrative that the Clinton campaign has molded for him, while attempting to be an effective surrogate in this cycle.