Former president presents case in Burlington for his wife
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In a last-minute attempt to rally the troops and reach undecided or wavering voters, former President Bill Clinton stopped at Hibernia Hall Wednesday to campaign for his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.
The former president packed the hall with 235 potential caucus goers, and campaign officials said they turned away another 50 people after Burlington Fire Marshal Mark Crooks told them the hall had reached capacity.
While introducing Clinton, former Iowa first lady Christi Vilsack encouraged undecided patrons to sign supporter cards.
“If your undecided and make up your mind today, or for whatever reason you change your mind today, we want to make sure we capture your name on a supporter card. So we can tell you where to caucus, get you out to caucus, we can scoop your drive way and make sure you get out,” she said.
After the event, volunteers and campaign workers moved through the crowd with supporter cards eagerly looking to sign up undecided voters like Iowa Sen. Tom Courtney.
“I think there is a certain amount of people like me who, as of this morning, have not decided (who to caucus for),” Courtney said.
“I think there are a lot of undecideds this year. And I think he (Bill Clinton) may have answered some questions for a few undecideds that put them over the top,” he said. “Who knows, he may have convinced someone to go (caucus) that they don’t want to go.”
The latest polls of likely caucus-goers show Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York in a tight race with rivals Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.
“Tomorrow night the future of the free world is riding on your shoulders. Don’t feel any pressure,” Clinton said.
He spent just under an hour offering reasons to support his wife.
Clinton didn’t once mention his wife’s competitors.
Instead, he described her as a born leader with the vision, determination, experience and plan necessary to be president, while bashing the country’s current leader, President Bush, on a variety of issues.
“They don’t call the president the chief executive for nothing,” he said. “You have to take good vision and good plans and turn them into real changes in other peoples lives. And she’s a world-class change maker.
“I think she is the best qualified person to be president I have ever had the chance to vote for in 40 years.”
The former president said another Clinton in office would mean a new beginning for the country in four ways: restoring the United States’ standing in the world, rebuilding the middle class, reclaiming the future for youth and returning government to fiscal responsibility.
Clinton said America’s image in the world has been damaged by the Bush administration. Specifically, he criticized the current White House occupant for the war in Iraq, a withdraw of efforts to battle global warming, a lack of commitment to stopping the spread of nuclear materials and weapons and a disregard for the Geneva Conventions regarding human rights.
Hillary would change that, he said.
“She wants to say to the world, ‘from now on we’re going to pursue vigorous diplomacy with friend and foe alike, whenever we can, and use military force only as an absolute last resort, not the other way around,’ ” Clinton said.
“She wants to say (to the world) … ‘we’re going to cooperate with you whenever we can and act alone only when we have to, not the other way around.’ ”
Clinton said if his wife is elected, she would rebuild the middle class with more jobs, rising wages, universal health cares and better access to college.
He also said she plans to stop politics and ideology from interfering with science and technology from stem cell research to global warming.
“I have never seen politics interfering in science and technology like we’ve had in the last seven years, and she intends to stop it and get back on the forward path,” Bill Clinton said.
To accomplish all the goals, Clinton said voters need to elect someone who will work with Republicans to get bills through Congress.
“You’ve got to elect a president with the proven ability to get some votes from the other side. So we can get this country back in the solutions business and she can do it,” Bill Clinton said.
Clinton also said Hillary Clinton has the strength, compassion, and visions to win the election, not get carried away with the job and have the strength to deal with crisis.
Despite the resounding endorsement, Courtney said he would wait until tonight to make up his mind on who he would caucus for.
But whatever the outcome, Courtney pledged to support the candidate that walks away with the Democratic nomination.
“We’ll nominate a Democrat in the end. We’ll all get behind whoever he or she is,” Courtney said.
Tags: barack obama, bush administration, endor, job