Clinton vows to keep fighting for nomination
WILKES-BARRE — U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton strode to the stage at King’s College on Tuesday to the theme from “Rocky” and told a crowd of more than 3,000 she would keep fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination despite calls from party leaders that she withdraw from the race.
Clinton rebuffed a suggestion made last Friday by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that she step aside and support Democratic front runner, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. She countered Obama’s comparison of the campaign to a “good movie that lasted about a half an hour too long,” with a flashback to her own familial ties to the region.
“We haven’t gotten to the part that includes Pennsylvania,” Clinton said. “These people who were telling me I should quit, they don’t know that my father and my father’s family are from right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania and we don’t quit.”
Clinton reiterated that pledge several times during her 45-minute appearance at the college’s Scandlon Physical Education Center, part of a series of “Solutions for the Pennsylvania Economy” events, which fused traditional campaign rhetoric and personal reflections with a brief, town-hall style round of audience questions.
“I know that we have all the tools we need at our disposal to get this economy working again, because it’s not for the vast majority of middle-class families, for hard-working people,” said Clinton, D-N.Y. “The economy has to be the No. 1 issue, because we can’t do anything else if we can’t get that right.”
Clinton said her plan for economic resuscitation would begin with restoring the middle class and creating millions of jobs through programs designed to rebuild the nation’s failing infrastructure and expand the use of renewable energy, funded through the sale of bonds, similar to those issued during World War I and World War II.
“We need to dig ourselves out of the hole we got into,” Clinton said. “We got there because of bad decisions and poor leadership. That is something I deeply regret, but it is all reversible.”
The former first lady blamed the poor leadership largely on President Bush, who took office in 2001 after her husband, Bill Clinton.
She criticized Bush for providing tax cuts to oil companies and resisting the development of renewable energy, while increasing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
“I don’t think we’ll have a prosperous middle class if people are paying $4 a gallon for gas,” said Clinton. “Take the tax subsidies away from the oil companies. They don’t need your money to make profits.”
She criticized Bush for prolonging the war in Iraq, which has lingered for more than five years and claimed the lives of more than 4,000 American soldiers.
“We need to let the Iraqis know they don’t have a blank check any longer,” said Clinton, who voted to authorize the initial invasion in 2003.
When asked by a member of the audience what she would do with Bush’s 2002 No Child Left Behind legislation, which she initially called “landmark legislation,” and later criticized as an unfunded mandate that hampers education, Clinton said, “It’s over when I’m president."
Clinton’s appearance, her first in Wilkes-Barre and third in the region since March 10, capped a historic day of presidential politics in the city.
Obama, who leads Clinton 1,626 to 1,486 in pledged delegates, with 189 at stake in the April 22 Pennsylvania Primary, campaigned earlier Tuesday at Wilkes University, five blocks away.
Even with sizable victories in the eight primaries after Pennsylvania, neither candidate can reach the 2,024-delegate threshold required to clinch the nomination and the race will likely be decided by superdelegates — a group of party leaders and elected officials that will comprise about one-fifth of the party’s voting delegates.
Gov. Ed Rendell said in an interview with The Citizens’ Voice after Clinton’s appearance that a victory in Pennsylvania would provide convincing evidence to the superdelegates that she would be able to win the states with the most Electoral votes in the general election campaign against the presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
“It’s a little bit like a Manna from Heaven that not only is the primary meaningful, right now it’s the whole ball of wax,” Rendell said. “If Sen. Obama were to win, I think it would be very hard for Sen. Clinton to go on — and I’m a great supporter.
“If she wins, I think she gets a tremendous shot in the arm. She can go to the superdelegates and say, ‘I’ve won Ohio, Texas, Florida, Michigan, New York, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania — all of the big states the Democrats have to carry.’ And that’s a great argument.”
Clinton remained in the gymnasium for nearly a half-hour, shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for pictures — the same strategy of charisma and accessibility her husband, former President Bill Clinton, employed throughout his political career and displayed during an appearance at Coughlin High School on March 19.
“This has been an exciting campaign and it’s going to get even more exciting,” Clinton said. “I know that the people of Pennsylvania are ready to come to events like this, study what we talk about, look at our records and have a chance to make your voices heard and your votes counted.”
