OWELL - He's not running for anything, but Bill Clinton reminded Massachusetts Democrats last night that he's still a deft, tireless campaigner.
The president, who has been a virtual nonstop fund-raiser and motivational speaker for party candidates this year, had the crowd on its feet last night at a fund-raiser for US Representative Martin Meehan of Lowell.
The event, costing the roughly 1,000 in attendance a relatively paltry $200 a ticket, didn't raise that much money for Meehan, who under the law is required to use some of the money to defray the cost of flying the president and his entourage to Lowell. Taxpayers are not allowed to pay for campaign-related presidential travel.
But then, Meehan, overwhelmingly favored to win election to a fifth term next month, doesn't really need the cash.
''I told him that we've raised all this money and got all this support, all we need to do now is find him an opponent,'' Clinton quipped. ''It's a shame to waste all this energy.''
The president - after lavishing praise on Meehan and Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who also attended - spent most of his time pleading with the group to get out the vote for candidates with much closer races.
Candidates such as Vice President Al Gore, for example.
Democrats ''need to make things clear'' about the strength of the economy, Clinton said. ''If we make things clear, we'll win. If they make things cloudy, it will make it difficult for us to win.''
The president has been clearly frustrated with the state of the election campaign, with both Governor George W. Bush of Texas and other Republicans edging out Democrats in polls.
Clinton has obliquely given some hints on how Democrats should respond, delivering scathing one-liners against Republican policies when he speaks to his own party members.
''We've had a hard time getting facts into the debates,'' Clinton told the Lowell crowd, which was packed into a hotel ballroom. ''I admire that about the Republicans - the facts do not faze them.''
While ''nobody's been kinder to us than the people of Massachusetts,'' Clinton said, the Democrats must call their friends in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, and other battleground states, telling them to vote for Gore.
Later, at a packed fund-raiser at the home of Senator John Kerry at Louisburg Square on Beacon Hill, Clinton assailed Republicans again. ''They have more money than we do and it's easier to confuse than clarify,'' he said, reiterating his complaint that the Bush camp has been trying to muddy the accomplishments of his administration.
Speaking in the dining room of Kerry's home, Clinton said he still felt confident Gore would prevail. ''I've always felt that Al Gore would win this election and I still do,'' he said, adding he told the vice president to ''relax'' when he was well behind in the polls.
Andy Dabilis of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
