Hoosiers Heart Hillary - Democratic Underground

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Fri Mar-21-08 09:39 AM
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Hoosiers Heart Hillary

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses supporters during a campaign rally in Evansville, Ind., Thursday, March 20, 2008.

Snaking in, out and beyond the Anderson High School parking lot, people slowly seeped into the wooden seats of the Wigwam, Anderson High School's gymnasium, to catch a glimpse of the next possible president.

Blue signs and matching shirts littered the crowd of Hillary Clinton supporters throughout the stands, as everyone from senior citizens, union workers, college students waited restlessly for the show to start despite a 45-minute delay.

When the senator came onto the stage, she was bombarded with camera flashes and an active electricity seemed to go through many in the room: this one could be different.

When Clinton asked for questions, almost half of the 5,000 people raised their hands. The majority of those hands the senator called upon were union workers.

Along with the crowd of people, a homemade green sign was lifted above the sea of heads. Drawn with a marker in little detail was a flower sprouting from the ground. The text above it was a simple message: Come on Hillary, we need you.

When Sen. Clinton finally pushed through a set of blue curtains and appeared before the anxious crowd, 5,000 fans shot to their feet and shoved blue and white “Hillary 08’” signs upward.

As Clinton, dressed in a blue pantsuit, finally took the microphone after brief speeches by Anderson Mayor Kris Ockomon and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, the people settled down for the once-in-a-lifetime experience they’d waited for.

The silence did not last long as the crowd vacated seats once again at the first mention of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Clinton shook her fist in the air as she promised to renegotiate the agreement, saying that Indiana jobs were meant to stay in Indiana.

On one side of the stage, a seated woman with blond hair allowed her tears to fall freely over a smile with her Clinton campaign sign lying over her lap. Her hands were still and her face unmoved as she gazed up at the candidate.

Just behind the tearful woman, a bristle-faced Hoosier sat with his chin propped on his palm. Listening to Clinton tell stories of job outsourcing and NAFTA’s failures, his brow furrowed as he shook his head slowly in agreement. Though he did not cry out in agreement, his lips mouthed the word “yes” after each powerful statement made by the senator.

Sen. Clinton tried to persuade Hoosier voters Thursday that her policies could help boost a lagging economy if she were president. (AP)

Clinton told the crowd of 5,000 people in hard-hit Anderson about taking steps she said would protect American jobs such as rewriting trade agreements and ending tax breaks for corporations that send jobs out of the country.

Her toughest language drew the loudest applause from the crowd that filled more than half of the Anderson High School gym.

"We're going to say to the people who run American businesses, isn't it time to put America first again?" she said.

Clinton took the stage with the same poise and complacency as she has countless other times over the course of her campaign after an introduction by Senator Evan Bayh, widely considered to be a likely vice presidential nominee. As Clinton began to speak, her hoarse, nearly broken voice focused the screaming crowd.

"I want to be really serious for a few minutes," Clinton said as screams of excitement turned into silence. "We have a big challenge ahead of us. It doesn't matter if your Republican or Democrat or any other ideology, we are first and foremost Americans."

The masses began screaming once again as a smile came over the former first lady's face.

Quickly getting to the point, Clinton said she realized how hard Indiana has been hit by job loss the last eight years.

"Indiana can be a forefront for jobs and energy," she said. "The corn here can be turned into ethanol at the pump. But if we don't take back the White House, it's not going to change."

Among the faces to show up behind Clinton was Rep. Andre Carson, the son of late Julia Carson, who was elected recently in a special election to fill his mother's position in United States House of Representatives. Looking around the gym coated in blue signs, Carson said Clinton and her campaign meant a lot to the state.

"She is very important ," Carson said. "She is a visionary, as is her husband, and I think her coming here is historic and has great significance."