The two Bills, Clinton and Gates, took the stage this afternoon at the Time Global Health Summit. For two men who spend their lives in the klieg lights, this was a rare opportunity for what could almost pass for a schmooze. TIME managing editor Jim Kelly asked them a wide range of questions, many of them posed in writing by conference attendees. Some of the highlights:

The intolerability of global epidemics: Clinton charged the audience to "Demand that your government pays more attention. It's immoral that people in Africa die like flies of diseases that no one dies of in the United States. And the more disease there is, the more political unrest there will be, leading to more Darfurs, which the U.S. will have to pay to fix." Gates was more succinct if no less heartfelt. "This is a humanitarian issue," he said. "It's time to start the moral cycle."

Humanitarian aid as smart politics: Clinton pointed out that whatever else you think of the U.S.'s Iraqi adventure, it's "not winning us any friends in the Muslim world." But, he noted, when we rushed into Indonesia to help after the Tsunami, the favorable impression of the U.S. soared from 35% to 65% and the popularity of Osama bin laden plummeted from 58% to 28%.

The leadership question: Kelly began to ask Gates what he'd do if he were the leader of the World health organization, but the question elicited some inadvertent laughter, when it sounded as if Kelly were asking about an even higher office:

KELLY: Mr. Gates, if you were president...
GATES (Laughing): Not interested
CLINTON: I'm for it. I'd endorse him. But he'd have less power than he has now.

What Clinton would do differently from the present administration: The former president was charitable toward the current one. Clinton acknowledged he'd do more to encourage the purchase and distribution of low-cost generic drugs, but added: "Give President Bush credit. He got more money out of the Republican Congress for AIDS assistance than I could have."

Whether the drug companies are being unfairly demonized: Clinton and Gates agreed that big pharma must indeed turn a profit, but that it's wrong that only 10% of the world's R&D is spent on drugs afflicting 90% of the world. Clinton did add, "Of course, a guy like me who's living on Lipitor is in a hard place to criticize the drug companies."

Demgraphics: There was more laughter when Kelly pointed out that Clinton and Gates do not necessarily fit the demographic of the people they're helping:

KELLY: You're both male, you're both white, you're both well-off.
CLINTON (glancing toward the richest man in the world): That's a relative term.
GATES: On average, yes.

Other topics: Clinton seemed warm to the idea of creating a health corps within the Peace Corps for people who want to volunteer. Gates applauded Pres. Bush's avian flu initiative but did acknowledge that it's perhaps no surprise that money is forthcoming for a disease that "could actually kill rich people." Clinton disclosed that he does clip stories about global health from the papers to lobby his senator—that would be his wife—about them, then added that he believes that one of the ways he serves Hilary best is by accompanying her to New York State's county fairs once a year. "Not a lot of people in New York know one end of a cow from another," he said. "I'm sort of her token redneck."
--Jeffrey Kluger

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