13 WTHRHillary Clinton wraps up Indiana visit in Evansville

Hillary Clinton wraps up Indiana visit in Evansville

Evansville - Senator Hillary Clinton made three stops in Indiana Thursday campaigning for your vote. Clinton's visit comes five days after Democratic presidential challenger Barack Obama came here for his own rally.

After a full day of shaking hands and talking with Hoosiers in Terre Haute and Anderson, Senator Clinton made her last stop Thursday night at a rally in Evansville.

One of Clinton's biggest supporters - Indiana Senator Evan Bayh - joined her during the day of campaigning.

"You give this woman the ball, we're gonna win that game, America's gonna win that game, and we're gonna be on our way back so let's get that job done," Bayh told supporters.

The thunderous rally in Evansville energized her Democratic supporters in the southern part of the state, despite a delay of over an hour because of previous stops. Throughout the day she attracted crowds in the thousands that waited in lines for nearly eight hours to see her. She spoke about the economy, creating jobs and health care.

"You know Wall Street and big business they've had a president for the past seven years. I think it's time you had a president again," Clinton told a packed house at William Henry Harrison High School in Evansville.

Clinton also addressed the many families with loved ones serving in Iraq. She thanked the young men and women in the military for doing what they were asked to do, and promises to bring them home soon.

"The American Military was asked to get rid of Saddam Hussein and they did, they were asked to give the Iraqis free and fair elections and they did, they were asked to give the Iraqi government the space and time to make the decisions only the Iraqis could make for themselves. There is no military solution for the Iraqi civil war. They've got to decide whether they will resolve their differences or not."

That promise drew the loudest standing ovation of the night in Evansville.

Clinton's Terre Haute stop

Terre Haute - In Thursday's first campaign stop in the Hoosier state, Senator Hillary Clinton had coffee and conversation with supporters crowded into downtown Terre Haute's Saratoga Café.

"I'm running for President because I know we can do better," she told the crowd of 150.

Senator Clinton, along with Terre Haute's native son Senator Evan Bayh, listened to peoples hopes and fears for their future.

"I always think you learn more by listening then by talking," she said.

What Clinton learned Thursday was that for many people in Terre Haute, times have been tough. Rising gas prices, expensive health insurance and job layoffs have hit people hard here. At the end of January, Terre Haute had a six-percent unemployment rate, higher than the state average of 4.5.

"The economy is critical and anytime there is a set back, like you experienced at Phizer, it's gotta send shock waves through the community," she told the crowd.

Outside the hard luck stories were similar.

"Right now I'm unemployed between jobs looking for work," said Mitchell Barnes.

Barnes was laid off as a dishwasher at a local restaurant when business slowed down. Barnes said he hadn't found a new job yet. "Places don't want to give you a chance right now because business is slow," he said. "Times are tough right now."

"We're going to create new jobs because we sure haven't seen that happening under George Bush," Clinton said. "We're going to re-invest in our manufacturing sector again. I want to keep making cars in Indiana and America."

Barnes hoped those promises from Clinton would come true if she's elected. Sen. Clinton has likened the race to a long job interview.

"Who would you hire?  Who do think is ready on day one to do the toughest job in the world?" she asked the group.

Right next door to the Saratoga Diner is an Obama for America campaign office that residents say sprung up overnight. It's just one more sign of how close this race is and how important Indiana has become to it."

The voters know that.

"This is the woman I'm voting for," said George Hall Jr.

"I hope she becomes the president of the United States," said Sandy Myers.

Energy independence

Clinton talked about the need to become energy independent, jokingly saying, "I don't think we can expect other countries just to agree with us and say, you know, it's really expensive for the American economy. You need to give us a break. I don't think that will work."

"We have to start demonstrating we're gonna take this action on our own," she said. If President Bush were serious about energy independence, Clinton said he would require oil companies to be part of the solution. "We've got to stay committed to a different energy future," she said, citing higher gas mileage requirements, more flex fuel cars and more investment in ethanol and an overall "commitment to renewable clean energy."

She also said she would end subsidies to oil companies. "They don't need our money to make huge profits," she said, saying that Exxon-Mobil made $40 billion in profits for 2007. Clinton said she would also look into what affects oil prices.

Clinton said Americans should treat energy independence the same way the US treated the space race. If that were the case, she predicted it would generate five million new jobs in a decade.

"It's outrageous to me we're more dependent today on foreign oil than we were before 9/11," Clinton said.

"We're borrowing money from the Chinese to buy oil from Saudi Arabia. It's a losing strategy," she said, taking the example of Brazil, which uses sugar cane to produce flex fuel.

The subject of intellectual property theft came up when a worker at the Blu-Ray plant in Terre Haute spoke. Clinton said as president, she would take a stronger stand to protect intellectual property. "We're still the most innovative people in the world but we're competing against countries that don't play by the rules," she said.

Health care

Two of the key issues in the discussion were the economy and health care. A Pfizer worker said she was concerned about possible layoffs. Clinton said the current system of "boom and bust" - whereby drug companies pour money into research and development and then charge a lot for their products - should be more balanced. Clinton said her health plan would cover all Americans, meaning that drug companies like Pfizer would be able to charge less per product.

By leaving millions out of the health care system, Clinton said that insured people end up paying more - since they are ultimately forced to cover their own costs as well as the costs of the uninsured, which is eventually passed on to the consumer. She says her plan would allow the uninsured to choose from the federal employees health benefit plan, calling it a "great big buying group" with more bargaining power to bring down costs.

Clinton's plan would also limit the amount of money people have to pay on health care premiums to six or seven percent of their income. She cited a statistic that the average American family pays $12,000 a year in premiums and other health care-related costs.

She tied her health care talk into economics, saying Americans "cannot compete globally if we ask our businesses to carry the cost." Clinton said the agriculture industry in particular was affected adversely by rising health care costs.

Another issue that came up was preventive care, which many insurance companies refuse to pay for. "We're being penny wise and pound foolish," Clinton said. "It makes no sense morally or economically and that's why we have to do this."

Economy

On the economy, Clinton praised Americans for being hard workers. But she said that wasn't enough anymore.

"We work harder, we work longer hours, we don't take as many vacations. And yet our incomes have been dropping," she said, quoting data that had Indiana families losing $2,000 in annual income since President Bush took office. That's because, according to Clinton, there's been "no economic strategy to stand up for our jobs and do what's necessary to sustain a middle class lifestyle. That's very troubling to me. The middle class is the core of the American economy. It's the backbone of country."

Saying that the middle class was eroding because no one was standing up for it, she pointed out that other countries don't reciprocate when the US offers open access to its markets, and that governments like Japan's are subsidizing key industries like autos. "They come up with a product that has been paid for by their government to compete with us."

Clinton says it's a "different world today. "It's not the same world where we just work harder to get ahead. We have to be smarter."

Other subjects touched on were education. Clinton said she would rein in the student loan industry. She also said she believed global warming was real, when asked by a Girl Scout about whether it was a hoax. Clinton said young people were ahead of their elders on the issue.

Iraq

On the big Iraq question, posed by a young man who wondered whether American soldiers would be left there to die, Clinton said, "I believe passionately we should begin to bring our troops home," but "carefully and responsibly."

"I think that our military has performed magnificently. They've done everything they've been asked to do. But the Iraqi government has not kept its side of the bargain. They were supposed to be making steps toward national reconciliation and determining how to distribute oil revenues," Clinton said, adding that the Iraqi government hasn't done that.

She talked about her visit to Iraq over a year ago at the beginning of the surge.The point of that, she said, "was to provide enough stability so the Iraqi government would make the decisions it has to make. That is not happening....we can stabilize Iraq if the Iraqis believe we're not gonna prop them up any longer."

2008 marks the first time in 40 years that Indiana will play a role in the presidential democratic process. Not only are the state's 72 delegates important, but her presence here is also critical for her campaign as the Pennsylvania primary approaches next month.

Her husband, Bill Clinton, stopped in Indiana Tuesday to fire up her supporters as well.

"It is generally conceded among party elites in the Democratic party that this is a Clinton state. In part because of the presence of organized labor, she's done very well in all previous primaries among organized labor, so she wants to energize the troops," said political analyst Dr. Brian Vargus. "On the same day we vote, North Carolina votes, and that's generally conceded to be an Obama strong state."

Political experts say it's time for the Clinton camp to energize her base of supporters in the state in strong Democratic counties with labor parties.

"Primary elections are elections that basically come down to three things - turn out, turn out, turn out. You want to make sure your supporters show up," said Dr. Vargus. "And in Indiana, it's an open primary, so anybody can go up and ask for a ballot in either party."

After the morning visit to Terre Haute, Clinton stopped in Anderson and Evansville.

Decision 2008