43
Clinton speaks to more than 18,000 at Ohio State
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Declaring intentions to be “a president for all Americans,” Hillary Clinton urged a crowd of thousands gathered on the main campus of Ohio State University on Monday night to get their registrations in order and get ready to vote.
A day after another contentious debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump, Clinton also vowed to work to unify the nation after the Nov. 8 election.
“I think the American dream is big enough for everyone,” she said, adding, “We have to pull this country together. ... We want everybody to vote. ... When I think about the challenges that we’re facing, I don’t think any one person has all the answers. We have to listen to each other, respect each other and celebrate our diversity.”
Clinton’s stop in Columbus came a week after another swing through the state, though Monday’s event was one of her largest campaign gatherings – the Secret Service estimated 18,000-plus attendees were on hand, including those who passed through security into the outdoor, fenced-in area where she spoke and others who stood just outside the perimeter.
The speech came as Clinton appears to be on the rise in polling; she was up and Trump was down in a Quinnipiac University national poll released Friday.
Clinton was favored by 45 percent of 1,064 likely voters who were questioned, versus 40 percent for Trump. That compares with a 44 percent Clinton-43 percent Trump result a month earlier.
The results had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Voters in the poll were questioned before the release of video footage of Trump from more than a decade ago making lewd comments about women and prior to Sunday’s debate.
“Donald Trump spent his time last night attacking me when he should have been apologizing,” Clinton said Monday night. “We all heard what he thinks of women and how he treats women. ... But it wasn’t just this one video that was so disturbing [and] shocking. We have seen this kind of behavior throughout this entire campaign. And it’s not just about women. ... He has targeted others as well. He’s disrespected and denigrated African-Americans and Latinos and Muslims and POWs, people with disabilities and immigrants. He is an equal-opportunity insulter if there ever was one.”
Trump’s campaign slammed Clinton in advance of her speech in Columbus. Seth Unger, spokesman for Trump’s campaign efforts in Ohio, offered in a statement, “Ohio jobs have gone overseas, and Ohio workers have seen their wages diminished due to Hillary Clinton’s decadeslong legacy of bad trade deals. In spite of her public remarks in Ohio, behind closed doors on Wall Street, Hillary Clinton talks glowingly of her dream of ‘a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders.’ Donald Trump will win Ohio because as president he can be trusted to secure our borders, renegotiate bad trade deals that have sent our jobs overseas, and always put America first.”
On Monday night, Clinton reviewed her plans to boost the national economy – a lengthy list of policy proposals that includes increasing the minimum wage, debt- and tuition-free college educations, trade deals that benefit American workers, a pledge to never privatize Social Security and higher taxes on the wealthy with no tax hikes for middle class and lower-income workers.
“I’m pretty excited about what we’re going to do together, but I can’t do any of this without your help,” Clinton said.
To that end, Clinton urged Ohioans to check their registrations, making sure they’re ready to cast ballots starting Wednesday, the first day of early voting in Ohio.
“If we win in November, we can summon the positive spirit of our country back again,” she said. “I think I have to do everything in my power to bring people together, and I will.”
She added, “I want to be your president, whether you vote for me or not. ... and I will stand up for you, and I will work for you, and I will fight for you.”