Rector Versus Clinton - The Killer And The Candidate

During the presidential primaries in 1992, would-be Democratic candidate Bill Clinton faced an agonising decision as Governor of Arkansas. A convicted killer named Rickey Ray Rector was languishingon death row in Clinton's own state awaiting execution, while pressure mounted to commute the sentence on the grounds that Rector was mentally unfit to receive the death sentence. Clinton was torn between his liberal sympathies and his need, as a politician, to take a tough stance on law and order. News footage, eye-witness interviews, and analysis from Clinton's supporters and opponents re-create a controversial episode in last year's campaign that ended with Clinton in the White House and Rector dead. To the end, Rector had no understanding of his fate. Effectively lobotomised after firing a gun into his own head, the day before his execution he said he would vote for Clinton.