Clinton's back on the Hollywood campaign trail

If Sumner Redstone had anything to say about it, Bill Clinton would be running in the upcoming presidential election.

At the National Breast Cancer Coalition fundraiser held  April 16 on the back lawn of Sumner and Paula Redstone’s Spanish modern Beverly Hills estate, the studio exec introduced his old presidential pal to a Hollywood Power Crowd including Brad Grey, Michael Milken, Les Moonves, Eli Broad, Brooke Shields, Barbara Davis, Sharon Stone, her father Joe Stone and Imitation of Christ designer Tara Subkoff.

“I think most of you will agree, or should agree, that he (Clinton) will go down in history as one of the greatest presidents of the United States,” Redstone told his guests. "And if I can change the law, if he could run again, he would certainly be elected the next president of the United States.”

During the burst of applause, Clinton stepped up to the mike, while his friends, Barbra Streisand and NBCC founder Fran Visco, huddled together to fight the evening chill. He thanked Redstone for hosting the event in his beautiful home, joking that it “makes the White House look like public housing.”

Looking trim with snow-white hair, Clinton also joked about his age. “Joe Stone, Sharon’s dad, told me tonight that I look tired and I said, 'Well, I ought to. I’ve got three jobs.' I’ve got to finish the book about what we can do as private citizens to advance public good, and I’ve got my foundation work. And somehow I got involved in another presidential campaign, something I never thought I would be doing. So I’m tired. I’m not a kid anymore.”

Clinton thanked Streisand for her presence, recounting her close friendship with with his mother Virginia Clinton Kelley, who died of breast cancer in ’94. “My mother met Barbra at the inaugural. They walked off together, talking and channeling each other. And she called my mother once a week for a solid year until she died and I will never forget it.”

When Clinton heard about Elizabeth Edwards' reaction to her breast cancer diagnosis, it reminded him of his mother. “I was cheering when Elizabeth announced her plans. She has what my mother had, breast cancer that spread to the bone. And my mother spent the last weekend of her life at Barbra Streisand’s show in Las Vegas. I tried to call her on New Year’s Eve but couldn’t reach her. On New Year’s Day, she was pulling slots. Finally, on the night she died, she called me and said, “I’m sorry. But I’m having a good time, I’m having fun.” We had a normal conversation just like the ones we had every week all year long and 3 ½ hours later, she died in her sleep. We  should all be so brave and so lucky."