Clinton expected to campaign with Kerry next week

The two-term former president may also make separate appearances for Kerry, although no schedule had been set, said McCurry, who was Clinton’s press secretary when he was in the White House. At a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday night, Kerry said he spoke to Clinton briefly over the telephone before the event, and that the former president had offered him words of encouragement in his neck-and-neck race against Republican President George W. Bush.

‘‘We were talking about how when the other guys are trying to label you and make you into something you’re not,’’ Kerry told several thousand supporters. ‘‘And Bill Clinton and I were talking, and he said, ‘You know, when the other guy wants you to stop thinking and he’s trying to scare you into not thinking, and you want Americans to think about their future, it’s pretty clear who you ought to be voting for.’’’

At the mention of Clinton’s name, the crowd burst into roars of approval. Democratic strategists hope the former president can help turn out the party’s base on November 2, especially black voters who have sometimes responded lukewarmly to Kerry.