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VIDEO| Hundreds gather to see Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton in New Castle
Video
Former President Bill Clinton speaks to a crowd at New Castle Junior/Senior High School April 16 in support of his wife's presidential campaign. Footage by The Vindicator/William D. Lewis and Vindy.com/Sarah Poulton.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Not everyone who came to New Castle High School for a rally for Democratic primary presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was one of her supporters.
Some said they were voting for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., her rival in a primary race that has put Pennsylvania in the spotlight.
Even so, they said, it was the lure of the rally’s featured speaker that brought them out. The couldn’t miss the chance of a lifetime, they said, to see a president of the United States.
Former President Clinton appeared at the high school’s field house Wednesday afternoon to smooth the way for his wife to a win in Pennsylvania’s primary election Tuesday.
“This has been an exciting month for Pennsylvania,” said New Castle resident Kim Clavelli. “Usually primaries mean absolutely nothing. They’re usually a done deal by the time we vote.”
She and her friend, New Castle resident Barb Wildauer, said they are Hillary supporters and “Bill fans.”
That he would come to New Castle meant a lot to them, said some people waiting in long lines for the doors of the field house to open.
“I’m 36 years old,” said Bess Ondako of New Castle, a teacher of seventh-grade English at the high school and a Hillary Clinton supporter. “This is the first time in my life to see a president live.”
“A lot of kids want to leave the city,” said Jamee Carr, another New Castle resident who was in line behind her. “For him to come here — it brightens it up with a little hope,” she said.
Dan Hilton of New Castle and Katie Heaney, 21, a Slippery Rock University political science major, said they are favoring Obama.
Nonetheless, they wanted to hear what Bill Clinton had to say. “I want to hear how the Democrats will help out the economy,” Hilton said.
“Depressed areas like New Castle and Youngstown — we need change.”
Heaney’s brother, Ryan Heaney, who at 18 is going to vote for the first time, said he’s concerned about violence in schools and making sure everyone has health care. He also wishes the war in Iraq would end “as soon as possible.”
The country faced a grim milestone in March, noted 15-year-old Cody Hilliard, a staunch Hillary supporter, with 4,000 U.S. troop casualties counted in Iraq.
Ondako said education is a big issue for her. “So much funding has gone to the war. Education has been pushed to the bottom of the agenda,” she said.
With those issues on their minds, people waited for almost two hours to hear what Bill Clinton had to say.
They first heard an apology for his tardiness. It was his fourth stop of the day campaigning in Pennsylvania, he said, and he had one more to go.
He spent the better part of the next hour telling about 1,100 people gathered in the field house why his wife should be president.
She’ll be the best commander in chief, he said, and told them it’s no surprise that two former chiefs of staff and 35 retired generals and admirals have endorsed her. “She has the strongest military support given to any Democratic candidate in memory.”
Her plan, Clinton told the crowd, is to bring the troops home and fight the real war on terror by going after al-Qaida. He said she plans to take care of Iraqi civilians by leaving “a few special forces there.”
But she plans systematic withdrawals, he said, while making sure Iraq remains stable. He said she’ll make sure veterans are taken care of with support services when they come back from Iraq.
On the domestic front, he said, she is the best candidate to guide the country through the mortgage crisis. He said people who have been honestly paying their bills shouldn’t be put out of their homes.
Sen. Clinton’s plan, her husband said, would let people stay in their homes for five years at the same mortgage payments. He said she would also boost the economy by encouraging the creation of jobs in green industries and reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil.
Job growth, he stressed, is critical for a healthy economy. He said that right now, there’s no jobs and tax cuts for the rich, “hoping it trickles down to the rest of us.”
Under Sen. Clinton’s health-care plan, everyone will have coverage available, he said. Her plan would allow people to keep the coverage they already have if they’re happy with it, he said. If not, they could be eligible for the same health care as members of Congress, he said.
The former president said there’s much waste in the insurance industry, with 30 cents of every dollar going to process paperwork. Sen. Clinton’s plan would eliminate that waste, he said, because it would require less administration.
He also touched on education, saying the senator wants to improve policies in the No Child Left Behind Act, which is supposed to close the gap between the United States and other countries with better education policies.
He said that she wants to encourage recruitment of bright new teachers to replace the 2 million that are set to retire, and that she wants to examine schools that are excelling “to figure out what they’re doing right.”
He said she wants to help college students by doubling the tuition tax credit to $3,500 a year and by cutting down on the abuses of private student loan companies who charge 14 percent to 16 percent interest.
Clinton criticized the Bush administration for abandoning “three surpluses I left you with” as president and going back to trickle-down economics, adding $4 trillion in debt.
Clinton said Obama is great on inspiration, but “Hillary is great on empowerment.” His wife, he said, is the best he’s ever known at taking good intentions and making policy changes.
“You’ll never have a chance in your life to vote for someone who’s a better change maker for oth er people,” he said.
Was Bill Clinton convincing enough?
First-time voter Ryan Heaney had to think about that on his way out of the field house.
Will he vote for Sen. Clinton?
“Probably,” he said, a reflection of the way the rest of the Democrats in the state, and the country, are wrestling over which one of two strong candidates will win the nomination.