Hillary Clinton Sending a Clear Message in West Virginia

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CLEAR FORK, W.Va. -- To those who suggest that she is simply biding her time until a graceful exit, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had a message Monday: She is still running, and still arguing that she will be a stronger general election candidate than Sen. Barack Obama. (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/12/clinton_running_hard_in_west_v.html?hpid=topnews)

"It's a fact that Democrats don't get elected unless West Virginia votes for you," Clinton said here, deep in a rural southern pocket of the state. "West Virginia has picked presidents pretty accurately. ... I am here today because I know what's really going to matter tomorrow: It's the votes of the people of West Virginia."

Clinton is expected to win West Virginia by a wide margin Tuesday, the sixth-to-last primary state. But she will still likely trail in pledged delegates and superdelegates, reducing her odds of winning the nomination, in the words of one of her own senior officials, to about 2 percent.

She made the electability argument, too, suggesting that she -- and thus, logically, not Obama -- would be able to win West Virginia in the general election. And as she traveled across the state, she found her message echoed by supporters who turned out to greet her. At Biscuit World, a diner in Charleston, one ardent 90-year-old Clinton supporter said she would not support Obama in the general election, and doubted he could beat McCain. "No, I won't, I'll just be honest about it," said Evelyn Keener, when asked if she would vote for the Democratic nominee if it is not Clinton. Keener's adult granddaughter, Cynthia Taylor, said the same. "It's Hillary all the way, or no way," Taylor said.




Sen. Hillary Clinton greets a supporter during a campaign rally in Logan, W.Va., Monday, May 12




Hillary Clinton found dozens of supporters, and at least one of her rival's, as she started her Primary Eve Day with a stop at a local Biscuit World. (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/12/1012021.aspx)

"We gotta get everybody out, gotta get everybody out," she said as she posed for a picture with a group of women.

One told her the weather forecast looked good. "Yup, let's make it happen, Clinton replied. "Get everybody out, it'll be a good day."

"I keep telling people, no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia."







As she sat in a booth signing a book, another woman said she hoped she woud "go all the way."

"We're gonna keep going as long as we have people like you helping us," Clinton said.

A gaggle of onlookers, photographers and reporters watched as Clinton made the rounds. “She’s so petite!” one woman exclaimed, as Clinton made her entrance. “No Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia,” Clinton said as she shook hands and thanked some volunteers who had been tipped off to her visit. (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/05/12/clinton-mixes-biscuits-with-politics-in-west-virginia/?mod=WSJBlog)








"Oh, I didn't want to do this," Smith said, embarrassed, wearing an Obama T-shirt as Clinton walked into the restaurant. "I didn't know she was going to be here." (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gyXVIfZ2F2CTuuxH3_93vuTP-ywwD90KBA000)

Smith, who lives in nearby Institute, said she liked Clinton but prefers Obama.

"We've got to get the Republicans out of there," she said.

As Clinton left the building, Smith stepped up to shake her hand. She told the candidate that getting a Democrat in office was her priority.

"It's been too long since we have," Clinton agreed, touching Smith's shoulder gently, and smiling.





Supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton listen during a campaign rally in Logan, W.Va. Monday, May 12



Mort Victorson, 84, of Charleston has http://www.sundaygazettemail.com/News/ElectionCentral/200805120365">voted in every election since he started voting at age 21. Today, Victorson, along with his wife, Debbie donned Sen. Hillary Clinton stickers during her stop at Tudor's Biscuit World on Washington Street in Charleston.

It would be one three stops Clinton would make in the Mountain State today.

"I don't know her personally, but I like everything she stands for," Victorson said.

Debbie will also vote for Clinton on Tuesday. "I think she will live very large here," she said.









“It was West Virginia that made it possible for John Kennedy to become president,” Clinton said at Clear Fork. “Now, John Kennedy didn’t have the number of delegates he needed when he went to the convention in 1960. He had something equally as important — he had West Virginia behind him, because it’s a fact that Democrats don’t get elected president unless West Virginia votes for you…” (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/12/clinton-draws-parallel-between-her-campaign-jfks-1960-run/)

Clinton added that West Virginia proportionately has more veterans, “more people who have served in the conflicts and in the armed forces of the United States….

“It is the hard-working, dedicated people of West Virginia who have really made America what it has been, and what it will be again.”









LOGAN, W.V. -- "Democrats don't get elected president unless West Virginia votes for you," said Clinton, 60, whose motorcade crept through fog-shrouded mountain switchbacks in a soaking rain to reach this mining town.

"It was West Virginia that made it possible for John Kennedy to become president," Clinton told 400 supporters at a local high school. "John Kennedy didn't have the number of delegates he needed when he went to the convention in 1960; he had something equally as important -- he had West Virginia behind him."

. . . like a football player seeking refuge between the white lines, Clinton seems to be having more fun these days than during more measured, sedate and pressure-packed appearances as the front runner. And the working-class crowds in the mill and mining towns were genuinely delighted by her decision to adopt them as her own -- and with her unrestrained attacks on oil companies, Chinese toy manufacturers and Wall Street money.









Stumping all day in the state, Clinton pressed her case on why she's best suited to be the party's nominee, despite trailing Obama in pledged delegates, states won, the popular vote and party superdelegate commitments, and while running a campaign that's millions of dollars in debt.

"The goal is to nominate someone who can beat John McCain in November," Clinton told a crowd in a packed middle-school gymnasium. "I wouldn't be in this race, I wouldn't be going up and down West Virginia ... I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe I could be the best president for West Virginia and America."

With the clock ticking, Hillary Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd here that tomorrow’s primary could be a “crucial turning point” in the presidential election, as she continued to play up the state’s significance for Democrats’ chances in the fall. (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/12/1012909.aspx)







“West Virginia is a real indicator of which way the political winds are going to blow come the November election,” Clinton said. “This election we’ve had, this primary contest has been close and exciting -- the closest one anybody can remember. But the goal is to nominate someone who can beat John McCain in November. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

“I don’t need a guided tour of the White House,” she said. “I know my way around, and I know we gotta get to work immediately, because we’re not gonna have a lot of time.”

Clinton also emphasized the economy in an area “where people understand what hard work means,” she said. She claimed President Bush’s policy was simply “trickle-down economics,” and that most people “feel like they’ve been trickled on for seven years and didn’t get much of it.”

“As I was coming here … shaking hands, a man handed me a check and said. ‘You keep fighting, this will help,’” she said. “And I know that if I have your help tomorrow, we will send a very clear message.”








Hillary Clinton wrote in an op-ed for The Charleston Gazette, Sunday: http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/Op-EdCommentaries/200805100334


I was raised to believe in the promise of America. My grandfather was a factory worker, and my father served in the Navy and started a small business. My mother had a difficult childhood, but provided a loving home for our family and while she never got to attend college, she was determined that her children would. I have had every opportunity in life because of their hard work and sacrifice.

I carry with me not just their dreams, but the dreams of people like them all across our country: people who embrace hard work and opportunity, who never waver in the face of adversity, and who work day and night to make a better life for your children.

For the past seven years, I know so many of you have felt invisible to our president - holding your breath at the gas pump and the grocery checkout line; wondering what you'll do when health insurance disappears when a job does; seeing your loved ones who served our country in war ill-served when they return home.

I am running for president to stand for you and fight for your dreams and your future. I am running to give every child and every family the same opportunities and blessings that I had.

With two wars abroad and an economic crisis here at home, the stakes are higher than ever before. We need a president who knows how to make this economy work for middle-class families again and who is ready on day one to be commander in chief and keep our families safe. If you give me the chance, I will be that president.

Accomplishing all of this won't be easy. But if there is one thing you know about me, it's this: I don't back down from a challenge. I'll be there for you long after the speeches are over and the cameras are gone, and I will never stop listening to your voices and standing for your families.

We know the stakes in this election are high and the challenges great. But we also know the possibilities are endless with the right leadership. It is up to us to roll up our sleeves, start solving our toughest problems, and start delivering on the promise of this great nation that we love.





Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a campaign event in Eleanor, W. Va. Sunday, May 11