Hillary Clinton brought her campaign to Rapid City on Wednesday, telling a crowd in Memorial Park that South Dakota's voters can make a difference in the Democratic primary, which she insisted is "going down to the wire."
Standing under a huge cottonwood tree next to the bandshell, Clinton acknowledged that she is the underdog in the South Dakota primary next Tuesday.
But she vowed that she, her husband Bill Clinton or their daughter Chelsea will be campaigning in South Dakota every day from now until Tuesday.
Clinton admitted that her primary opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, leads in the delegate count, but she said she now leads in the popular vote. In fact, "More people have voted for me than have voted for anyone ever seeking a nomination for a major party in the history of our country," she said to applause from the crowd estimated at about 1,500 people, many of whom stood in a steady mist waiting for Clinton to appear.
As millions of people have turned out to vote in the final primaries around the nation, Clinton said, "Some people say, 'Let's stop the election.' I don't think so."
That's why Tuesday's vote is important, she said. "People are going to be watching South Dakota," Clinton said. "South Dakota can say, 'We're here, we count.'"
Clinton made only veiled references to Obama in her Rapid City speech. She made her oft-repeated argument that the country needs a president who is ready to go to work on "day one." And, she said, "America needs a president who delivers not speeches, but solutions."
Clinton also did not focus on Sen. John McCain but said the presumed Republican nominee promises to continue the mistaken war and economic policies of President George W. Bush.
She repeatedly hammered Bush and said the next president will have to repair a lot of damage, ranging from the war in Iraq to the domestic economy.
"There isn't any doubt that Bush has misled us," Clinton said.
Clinton devoted the bulk of her 47-minute speech to her proposals on the war, the economy, the federal budget deficit, tax breaks, energy policy, gas prices, universal health care, education and veterans' benefits.
"We have to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home as quickly and as responsibly as possible," she said. "I think we can begin to bring troops out in 60 days."
Clinton also said she would restore fiscal responsibility to the federal government, pointing to the balanced federal budget and budget surpluses in place when her husband left office in January 2001.
She said ending the war would go a long way to provide money to help restore the nation's budget deficit.
On other issues, Clinton said, she would:
- Create 5 million new jobs
- End tax breaks for companies that export American jobs
- End $55 billion in tax breaks for the rich and for big corporations
- Cut taxes by $100 billion for the middle class
- Make use of clean, renewable energy from the wind, the sun, and geothermal sources
- Build a new transmission system to move the electricity generated by those sources
- Invest in bridges, roads, water projects and other key infrastructure
- Develop a universal health care system
- Improve preschool programs and end the No Child Left Behind program, which she said is an unfunded government mandate that tries to impose a one-size-fits-all program on all school districts across the country
- Fully fund the Department of Veterans Affairs and take care of war veterans coming home with traumatic brain injuries and other wounds.
Clinton told the crowd that, like elsewhere in the country, she has gotten stronger in South Dakota and that her campaign will continue in the state until Election Day.
Sen. Clinton will campaign in Huron and Watertown today.
Bill Clinton will visit Black Hills State University in Spearfish on Friday as well as Mitchell and Vermillion. On Saturday, he will campaign for his wife in Canton, Dell Rapids, Flandreau and Madison. On Monday, he will be in Watertown, Milbank, Sisseton, Webster, Aberdeen and Sioux Falls.
The Clinton campaign said further appearances would be announced later.
Meanwhile, a Clinton "get out the vote" training session will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday for Hillary supporters at her campaign office at 2020 Jackson Blvd., in Rapid City.
Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com.
