April 21, 2008
Going Back To Scranton
SCRANTON, PA – After a long weekend of campaigning, marked by a bitter back and forth between the candidates, Hillary Clinton left the negativity behind as she kicked off the last full day of the primary race with a fourth stop in the northeast Pennsylvania town where she has deep roots.
The New York senator made her closing argument in the small, packed ballroom of a cultural center, entering to the now common strains of John Mellencamp's anthem "Small Town" (a John Edwards favorite). She spoke in front of a banner that read "Scranton's behind you Hillary." Clinton was accompanied by her mother Dorothy Rodham and her brothers Tony and Hugh Rodham.
"I wanted to come back the day before the primary to be with all of you and to thank you," she said during a speech interrupted often by cheers. "We started this Pennsylvania campaign here in Scranton at the new high school, and we're going to bring it to victory. We need to really bear down. The last day is here and the entire world is watching. I appreciate your having my back and here's what I want you to know: as your president, I'll have your back."
Clinton's great-grandparents settled in Scranton, and her grandfather and father grew up here. She talked about the time she spent here in her youth and about her family's faith in America.
"We cared about our family," she said. "We cared about our faith. We believed in working hard and we had an abiding faith in our country, an abiding faith that never ever quit."
In a speech devoid of the kind of negative rhetoric the Dem candidates employed all weekend, Clinton touched on her goals of ending the war in Iraq, winning the war in Afghanistan, taking care of veterans, improving the economy, making college affordable and achieving universal healthcare.
Polls show Clinton has retained her lead over Barack Obama in a primary some analysts say she must win by double-digits to gain in the delegate count and stay viable. She thanked her supporters and volunteers and urged people to help turn out the vote.
"Please, in the next 36 hours, do everything you can," she said. "Convince people to go vote who say that they're not voting, take them to the polls, call your friends and neighbors, make the case for the kind of result that we desperately need in America again."
Clinton did not mention Obama or John McCain by name, but she did subtly mock Obama's "Yes we can" mantra at the very end of her roughly 20-minute speech.
"Some people say that America's best days are behind us," she said to shouts of "No!" from the crowd. "Some people say 'Yes we can', but that doesn't mean we will. I believe we will, if we have the right leadership. If you stand with me I will. I will go to the White House and fight for you every single day."
(NBC/NJ's ATHENA JONES)
Posted at 10:55 AM
Comments
Post a comment
The Watergate · 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-739-8400 · fax 202-833-8069
NationalJournal.com is an Atlantic Media publication.
