Posted on 02/29/2008 11:16:20 PM PST by kingattax
PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - The nation's former president has been spending a lot of time in some of Ohio's smallest cities and rural areas, trolling in small pools of voters who could be crucial in delivering the state's pivotal primary.
With hopes for another Clinton White House on the line Tuesday, Bill Clinton is barnstorming places such as this Ohio river city in the south and Lima, a northwestern city no former or sitting Democratic president had been to since Harry Truman in 1948.
Clinton, with five Ohio campaign appearances from Findlay to New Philadelphia on Friday, said in Dayton on Thursday night that a Hillary Rodham Clinton administration could improve on his for the economy.
"You will have more growth, more jobs, more prosperity when she's president than you had when I was there if you vote for her and stick with her," Clinton said.
He often calls his wife "the change-maker," while referring to Barack Obama as the candidate of words and feelings.
"It's one thing to talk about change, it's another to do it," he said Friday at the University of Findlay.
After Saturday rallies in Kirtland and Lakewood, Clinton returns to Texas where the campaign plans six events with him Sunday and seven on Monday.
His crowds at times have been only in the hundreds, but in what looks like a close race Tuesday, their votes could add up.
"We've seen candidates in the past who have sort of written off northwest Ohio, southern Ohio, some of the less-populated areas," said W. Tom Wiseman, a Bowling Green State University political analyst. "The truth of the matter is that given the variable of independent voters, and that this Democratic race is indeed wide open, there could be relatively high voter turnout in these areas."
Independents and Republicans who cross over to vote Democratic on Tuesday could come into play. Obama has done better than Hillary Clinton with such voters in earlier primaries.
But in Ohio, Bill Clinton has a record of drawing the kind of swing votes that helped Republican George Bush narrowly win re-election in 2004.
Most Democratic votes Tuesday will come from the cities in central and northeastern Ohio. About one-sixth of the 2006 gubernatorial primary votes came from Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) alone.
Clinton ran unusually well in his presidential races for a Democrat south of Interstate 70, which cuts across Ohio's middle, said David Wilhelm, who was Clinton's 1992 campaign manager but has thrown his superdelegate support behind Obama.
"He won the state twice, so I guess I'd start there. He's a formidable political presence," said Wilhelm.
Gov. Ted Strickland, an Appalachia native campaigning for Hillary Clinton, thinks his home region of southern and eastern Ohio could make the difference for her. He said Bill Clinton is remembered there for visiting repeatedly in the 1990s.
Wilhelm, an Appalachia native who likes Obama's coalition-building ability, noted that Obama has shown increasing strength among voters similar to those who dominate the region - white, lower-income, working class people.
A spokesman for Hillary Clinton's campaign rejected a suggestion that the former president is being kept away from the spotlight to avoid distractions.
"I just don't see how that's the case when he's in front of thousands of people every day," spokesman Isaac Baker said. "We continue to book him with as many events as possible. He is our top surrogate; our most passionate and eloquent spokesman for why Senator Clinton is most qualified to be president."
Clinton takes indirect swings at Obama, with complaints about mailings he called "pure garbage" and a campaign he says wants "historical amnesia" about the 1990s.
"The argument being made by the other side is the only way you can really change America is to eliminate for consideration from the presidency anybody that ever did anything good in the 1990s," he said Tuesday in a speech in Dallas.
"A lot of the mailings that have been sent out against her on health care and NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) are pure garbage," Clinton said Monday while talking to some 1,700 people in the Shawnee State University gym here.
He draws a range of fans.
Engineering student Steven Cox, 19, was among hundreds who waited more than hour in freezing cold here to hear him.
"I'm in between right now on Hillary and Obama," said Cox, of Columbus. "Maybe Bill will persuade me."
In Houston on Wednesday, Lena Ramirez, 75, waited patiently as his rally at a park started an hour late.
"I think it's worth it. We're loyal to him, to the Clintons, period," she said. "When ever will I get to see him again?"
Skip Rutherford, a family friend who's now dean of the Clinton School of Public Service in Arkansas, said it's natural to see him campaigning hard for his wife.
"He loves that," Rutherford said. "He gets his strength from the people."
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Associated Press reporters Liz Austin Peterson in Houston, Paul J. Weber in Dallas, and James Hannah in Dayton contributed to this report.
"I think it's worth it. We're loyal to him, to the Clintons, period," she said. "When ever will I get to see him again?"
sorry, lena. you aren't bubbas type
Barn, barn yard,-- as long as the pig trough is near by.
This is really so sad for the Clinton legacy. Love him or hate him he is one of the presidents of the US of A. I met a man in state govt. from Arkansas one time and he said Bill would play hearts with friends and foes alike before any bill in the Legislature. Before the night was over he would have the votes he needed. This man also said that if you ever met Bill he would find some little something about you such as your Mom having an operation or anything and even years later would bring it up like “Hey how’s your Mom doing after her gallbladder surgery?” An amazing man who is having to resort to talking to a few hundred people at the most to try and push his “wife” down their throats. Sad, truly sad. I’m loving every second of it.
Man, seeing this from the AP is rich, considering the references to Appalachia and the like. The press feeding on their own like this doesn't happen very often. That Chi-com POS deserves it. :)
Like the 200K jobs she promised -- but didn't deliver -- to upstate New York?
Once again Slick Willie is beyond the pale..
looking for “THE FARMERS DAUGHTER”...
Barnstorms for wife? Doesn’t he already have some form of wife?
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