Clinton blitzes through the Valley

With the presidential election a month away – and early voting starting Wednesday – this has been a busy political week in the Mahoning Valley.

Wednesday’s visit to the area by former President Bill Clinton on behalf of his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, was the biggest moment.

But as with Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence’s rally in Leetonia on Sept. 28, Clinton’s tour of the Valley had some unusual moments.

First, the logistics for Clinton’s initial stop weren’t finalized until the day before.

While that’s not out of the ordinary, what was strange was the uncertainty of whether Clinton would have a public event.

When it was decided, the campaign sent emails to reporters and supporters about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday about an event to start at 9:45 a.m. the next day at the Western Reserve Building Trades hall in Boardman.

There’s no doubt that Clinton should have made a public appearance in the Valley.

His last public appearance here was an Oct. 29, 2012, rally for President Barack Obama at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown.

But Clinton’s most recent visit to the Valley was a Nov. 19, 2015, high-priced fundraiser at the Canfield residence of Bruce and Rori Zoldan for his wife’s presidential campaign – a place he’s visited at least two other times while not making public appearances on those days.

With such little time to get the word out, Clinton’s Wednesday morning rally attracted only 150 people, and I knew at least 30 of them by name, including local political and labor leaders.

One big difference between Clinton and Pence was how they dealt with the media.

As I wrote last week, Pence restricted his media time to two television stations in which the reporters had to submit questions before asking them.

The Clinton campaign never inquired as to what I was going to ask the former president.

Considering what has been raised by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump about Clinton’s extramarital affairs – apparently not to be confused by Trump with his affairs – that was a risk they were willing to take. Also take into consideration that a reporter asked Clinton about the issue a day earlier, and the former president didn’t answer.

In addition to my time with Clinton, he had an impromptu press conference with reporters at Joe Maxx Coffee Co. in downtown Youngstown.

I was surprised how long it lasted.

I don’t know what was funnier to see: Clinton’s handlers trying at least three times to get him out of there while he stayed to answer questions or the media corralled like cattle behind the Joe Maxx counter.

Journalists initially were there to get photos and audio of the former president’s lengthy banter with a worker that turned into him reciting the history of coffee. The Q-and-A occurred with us still behind that counter.

The most amusing moment was a female customer inside the Starting Lineup Barber Shop, which is in the Realty Tower Apartments building with Joe Maxx, repeatedly saying, “I’m going to pee” when she found out that Clinton was coming into the business.

The other major political event of note this week was a Monday visit from Gov. John Kasich to the Liberty school district as part of a ribbon-cutting of a fitness center for students there.

After the event, Kasich met with reporters for about 10 minutes answering a variety of questions.

However, as was the case with his last visit to the Valley on June 9 in Columbiana, the governor’s staff informed me there would be no questions about Trump, or the press conference would be shut down.

I wasn’t sure back in June if I was the only one told this, though I was fairly positive as no one else asked about Trump and after answering my question, the media session ended.

This time, I learned from other reporters that I wasn’t alone.

The discussion with his staff was cordial, but I asked: Why does Kasich do national media interviews when no one doing those interviews cares what he has to say about anything or anyone except Trump?

At least media around the state are interested in his thoughts on other issues. The questions to Kasich addressed various topics, most notably the state’s heroin and opioid epidemic.

After “last question” was called, I asked about the Republican presidential nominee with the response being: “I don’t have anything to say about Trump. I’ve said everything there is to say.”

Well, not quite.

A TV reporter asked a Trump question and he gave an answer and then another TV reporter asked Kasich if he envisioned the presidential campaign turning out the way it did after the Republican National Convention.

The response was classic Kasich, who seemed stunned by the question: “What, are you kidding me? If they made a movie, people wouldn’t accept it in Hollywood because it’s beyond fiction.”