Of Bill Clinton, Morris said, “He’s often not a very nice person to be with in private.” Of Hillary Clinton, he said, “She reminds me of President Nixon. She’s very ruthless.”

Morris predicts Hillary Clinton will be the next president. But, he is not happy about his prediction. He does not think she would make a good president.

“She’s as close to a European socialist as we have in the U.S.,” Morris said.

“Hillary is a liberal who’s a moderate when she has to be. Bill is a moderate who’s a liberal when he has to be,” Morris observed.

“People ask me, ‘When did you turn on the Clintons?’ I didn’t,” said Morris.

“I’m not a Republican. I’m not a Democrat,” Morris said. “I hate both parties equally. I like both parties equally. When they work together, they get a lot of things accomplished. I believe we’ve had the best government in the last 25 years we’ve had since the founding fathers.”

In the 2008 presidential election, Morris said he believes the only two Republicans who could give Sen. Clinton a “run for her money” are Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor, and Arizona Sen. John McCain. But, “they’re both too good,” Morris noted.

“I think the only person who could stop her is Al Gore,” Morris said.

Morris, 57, has written several books. He wrote “Condi vs. Hillary,” arguing that only Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could block Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House in 2008. He did not cite Rice in his talk Monday.

Morris wrote a pair of books criticizing the Clintons and wrote “Behind the Oval Office: Winning the Presidency in the Nineties,” a retrospective of his work with the Clintons. It was published soon after his Aug. 29, 1996, resignation from the campaign due to scandal. Morris resigned after reports surfaced that he had been involved in an extramarital affair with a prostitute named Sherry Rowlands.

Morris also wrote the screenplay for “FahrenHYPE 9/11,” an alternative to the Michael Moore’s 2004 film. He is a FOX-TV news commentator and writes a weekly column for the New York Post and Hill Magazine.

Dick Morris, political strategist, answers audience questions Monday night at a meeting of the Bay Area Economic Club at Bay College in Escanaba. Morris said President Bush has no foreign economic policy but has successfully cut taxes. (Daily Press photo by Mary Feldhusen)