President Clinton to Campaign for Wife in Southeast Michigan

Former President Bill Clinton is headlining an Oct. 7 $500-a-ticket fundraiser in Bingham Farms for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. (Photo by Tim Hamilton, via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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Former President Bill Clinton will headline an Oct. 7 fundraiser for his wife’s presidential campaign at the Bingham Farms home of Doreen Hermelin .

Hillary Clinton has been in Michigan only once — at a July 21 at the Grosse Pointe home of David Katz and Jill Alperin — since announcing her presidential run. The $2,700-a-ticket fundraiser generated $567,000 in contributions.

Hermelin’s late husband, David, served under President Clinton as an ambassador to Norway before his death in 2000.

Invitations to the fundraiser are going out to prominent Democrats. Tickets for event, to be held from 2-4 p.m., are $500. Those who pay $2,700 can arrange for a photo with the former president, and those paying $10,000 will be honored as co-hosts at a special reception, the Detroit Free Press said.

The Harmelins raised more than $2 million for Bill Clinton’s campaign.

Bill Clinton’s appearance comes as Republicans are spending an increasing amount of time in Michigan, including five at the recent Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, and as Hillary Clinton is losing ground in national polls to democratic socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn’t announced, but is considering a presidential bid.

Real Clear Politics’ average five national polls shows Clinton leading with 40.8 percent, followed by Sanders at 27.6 percent and Biden at 20.1 percent. The former secretary of state’s lowest numbers came in a Bloomberg poll, which showed Clinton with 33 percent, Biden with 25 percent and Sanders with 24 percent.