Politics

While Hillary Clinton recuperates from pneumonia, President Obama campaigns for her in Philadelphia. Donald Trump continues his trip through battleground states, unveiling a new child-care plan in Pennsylvania.

  • Hillary Clinton's new ad shows Donald Trump insulting people, a day after Trump's ad showed Clinton insulting people
  • A Univision poll of Latino voters shows Clinton outpacing Trump in several battleground states
  • The Clintons have always battled the public over their health records
  • Trump tries to win over suburbanites and female voters with new child-care agenda
  • Do presidential candidates need tell the public about their health? How much?

20 years ago today, we were talking about another Clinton's health in the middle of a presidential campaign

 (Doug Mills / Associated Press)
(Doug Mills / Associated Press)

What's old is new — at least for the Clintons. 

Hillary Clinton's campaign has been engulfed this week by questions surrounding her health and renewed complaints of a lack of transparency while she recovers from pneumonia, a diagnosis disclosed only after she publicly fell ill.

Twenty years ago Tuesday, as then-President Bill Clinton traversed California raising money for his reelection effort against Republican Sen. Bob Dole, White House officials were pressed about why they would not release Clinton's full medical records, as The Times detailed in a Sept. 13, 1996, report.

And, just as Donald Trump has called on Hillary Clinton to release detailed medical records, Dole repeatedly insisted on more information from President Clinton about his health. 

"Dole's chief spokesman hinted darkly that [the] president was trying to conceal a medical 'mystery," wrote Times reporter John M. Broder.

It was even an issue in Clinton's 1992 campaign, when he authorized only a partial release of his medical records. 

At the time, his physician issued statements noting that Clinton enjoyed overall good health but did not provide detailed data from his annual medical exams.

As for Hillary Clinton, she plans to release additional medical records this week, her campaign said. 

Trump, who is 70 to Clinton's 68, released a short statement from a doctor boasting about the GOP nominee's good health, and his campaign has also said he will release additional medical records this week on "The Dr. Oz Show."

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