CINCINNATI (TBD) -- Chelsea Clinton campaigned for her mom across Ohio today, visiting Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan before finishing the night at a packed meet-and-greet in a dowtown Cincinnati pub. She didn't make a speech in the bar, but worked the crowd and took questions from all comers. She invited people in Sully's Bar and Grill to step up, shake hands, and share a brief political chat. It was low key and personal. She's scheduled to do more campus stops in NE Ohio Thursday. The crowd in the pub was mostly young professsionals.
Chelsea said she wanted to speak with those who hadn't made up their minds whether to vote for Hillary or Obama. She had a sales pitch to make. She said she wants Ohioans on the fence "to please come up and talk to me."
One of her selling points was universal healthcare for all Americans. She said her mom put the issue on the national agenda in the 1990s:
"I'm proud of my mom. I'm proud that she stood up for it. I'm proud that Democrats can now take it for granted" -- meaning that the party has united around the idea despite differences in how to write national legislation that would extend coverage to all Americans.
Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper, who has endorsed Hillary and is a chief organizer in her campaign's SW Ohio operation, said he's energized by the prospect of a tough March 4 contest against Obama in Ohio.
"Our job is to win Ohio. We've been waiting a long time to have this opportunity. I think he's got a lot of support, he's got great support. But we're going to win. I've been in enough elections, and I don't want to ever answer that it won't be tough. This will be tough."
http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/310/
ReplyDeleteAN OPEN LETTER TO HILLARY CLINTON FROM A WELLESLEY COLLEGE ALUMNA
Sunday, 03 February 2008
Submitted by a Truth To Power Subscriber From Yahoo News Groups
[This letter was written by a woman who has clearly done her homework, and confirms that no sane human being in good conscience can cast a vote for Hillary Clinton--CB]
Dear Hillary,
By polling logic, I should be your supporter - Democrat, older woman,
white, liberal. I was even in a dorm with you in college. I have
pulled for you for years. But something this past summer
fundamentally changed my responsibility to my children and
grandchildren. In the time I have left in my life to protect them and
others, I need to speak out.
I saw a News Hour piece on Maharastra, India, about farmers
committing suicide. Monsanto, a US agricultural giant, hired
Bollywood actors for ads telling illiterate farmers they could get
rich (by their standards) from big yields with Monsanto's Bt
(genetically engineered) cotton seeds. The expensive seeds needed
expensive fertilizer and pesticides (Monsanto, again) and irrigation.
There is no irrigation there. Crops failed. Farmers had larger debt
than they'd ever experienced
And farmers couldn't collect seeds from their own fields to try again
(true since time immemorial). Monsanto "patents" their DNA-altered
seeds as "intellectual property." They have a $10 million budget and
a staff of 75 devoted solely to prosecuting farmers.
http://www.grist.org/comments/food/2008/01/17./). Since the late
1990s (about when industrial agriculture took hold in India),166,000
Indian farmers have committed suicide and 8 million have left the
land.
Farmers in Europe, Asia, Africa, Indonesia,South America, Central
America and here, have protested Monsanto and genetic engineering for
years.
What does this have to do with you?
You have connections to Monsanto through the Rose Law Firm where
you worked and through Bill who hired Monsanto people for central
food-related roles. Your Orwellian-named "Rural Americans for Hillary"
was planned withTroutman Sanders, Monsanto's lobbyists.
Snip out long details
Edwards was right about your corporate connections. I just didn't
understand until I saw that PBS show and read about Monsanto, how
personally affected my children and grandchildren, and all people
around the world, have been.
I will not vote for you. I will vote for someone who will commit
themselves to work on behalf of small farmers and real food and
decent treatment of animals and to end this industrialized
agricultural nightmare that is taking us off a cliff.
Linn Cohen-Cole
Atlanta
Disclaimer. I am not a scientist. I have read for months on this
subject, and am including only a tiny portion of the horrifying
things I have learned. I am expressing my opinion as person and may
be wrong. Perhaps things are swell out there and rBGH is fabulous and
TSE-laced feed is great, and genetic engineering is the best thing
since manna. But I am scared for my family and I have not only a
right to say so but an obligation to do so. I am angry that Monsanto
was allowed the influence it had and has done the things it
definitely seems to have. I am disgusted by industrialization of
every tender and beautiful part of our world and hope, for all our
children's sake, we are not too late to pull back.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 03 February 2008 )