Clinton swings through RI to boost Raimondo bid
(WPRI) Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a full throated endorsement to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Raimondo on Friday, using a campaign rally to tie Raimondo themes to those Clinton may run on in a 2016 presidential bid.
pretty excited about Gina becoming governor, Clinton told a cheering crowd as Raimondo stood beaming behind her. really think that Rhode Island would be so well served by having this extraordinary woman take responsibility for your state. She knows how to get results by finding common ground, but she sure knows how to stand her ground when necessary. described herself as with pride to welcome Clinton, describing the former first lady as idol. has a plan, Clinton said. a well thought out plan it rooted in facts, not ideology, it based on evidence, not rhetoric to put people back to work, and she knows how to do it. She has the experience. She has the smarts to get it done. comments didn touch on Wall Street or big banks, which were key themes at a rally she attended earlier in the day for Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial nominee Martha Coakley; Raimondo opponents have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars since last year criticizing her as too close to the financial sector.
great to be back in Rhode Island, Clinton, who easily defeated Barack Obama in the state 2008 Democratic presidential primary, said at one point. really do love coming here. Rhode Island has been good to me and to my husband over the years, and you stood with me. Raimondo campaign estimated more than 1,100 people attended the rally, which Von Miller Jersey was held in the recreation center at Rhode Island College in Providence, and was preceded by a high dollar meet and greet that raised money which Raimondo campaign badly needs after spending nearly $5 million to win the Democratic primary last month.
Mitt Romney endorses Allan Fung at the Providence Biltmore in October 2014. (photo: WPRI 12/Sean Daly)
Raimondo Republican opponent, Allan Fung, dismissed the Clinton rally as something that isn a big deal to most voters. He spent the morning visiting Brutopia, a brewery and restaurant in Cranston that he said demonstrated how his stewardship of that city has prepared him to improve the state economy.
sitting here talking to the people of Rhode Island, Fung said. and people coming in are fantastic to have to energize people, energize the base, but what I hear about every single day is the fact that people are hurting. They not worried about who coming in, they worried about how to pay for their gasoline, how to put food on the table, how to pay for their mortgage. has had two high profile visitors campaign for him in recent weeks: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney. Christie made a swing through a restaurant in Johnston while Romney headlined a closed fundraiser and then held a press conference, though neither man held a public rally for the GOP nominee.
A WPRI 12/Providence Journal poll earlier this month showed Raimondo with a 6 point lead over Fung, and Ryan Clady Jersey a Brown University survey released Thursday also showed the Democrat ahead. Moderate Party nominee Robert Healey attracted 8% to 9% of the vote in the two polls.
The Clinton rally came the same day another famous Democrat announced plans to visit Rhode Island: the White House said President Obama, who canceled a planned trip earlier in the month due to the Ebola crisis, has rescheduled to speak at Rhode Island College next Friday.
Clinton Friday stump speech focused on core Democratic themes raising pay for women, increasing the minimum wage, bashing Republican tax policy that have become familiar in recent weeks as she goes around the country campaigning in advance of the Nov. 4 midterms and, potentially, setting the stage for another presidential run. She said Raimondo and other Democrats want to a 21st century economy that will work for everybody, and that they will construction jobs right away and lay the foundation for long term growth. the same time, Clinton went out of her way to adapt her comments to Raimondo, saying she was told long ago to keep an eye on the future treasurer. so I have been, Clinton said. I like what I see. She tacitly defended Raimondo decision to push through the Authentic Von Miller Jersey 2011 state pension overhaul, saying it represented one the hardest choices any public official in America [has] made. senator, then hinted at a future presidential bid: done it all although not everything yet! Clinton shrugged but, unsurprisingly, gave no specific indication of her plans.
Raimondo used her own turn at the podium to reiterate her criticism of Fung over his support for a right to work law and tax cuts she said would increase the state budget deficit, as well as his opposition to an increase in the minimum wage. (Fung has said Authentic Ryan Clady Jersey he is not looking to implement a right to work law in the short term and might be open to an eventual minimum wage hike.) Clinton suggested not really a choice between Raimondo and Fung when it comes to their plans.
can take anything for granted in an election, and I have some experience with that, Clinton told the crowd toward the end of the rally. have one of the best choices in the entire country with Gina. used some Womens Von Miller Jersey of her sharpest attack lines on Fung yet during the rally, saying he to make Rhode Island an anti worker, right to work state and describing him as classic insider, and former corporate lobbyist. That followed criticism earlier in the day from the Fung campaign over Raimondo efforts to play up jobs created at Narragansett Beer, which was backed by her former venture capital company, that are mostly in New York.
Clinton knocked Republicans, too, alleging their 2014 campaigns are ignoring the policies of previous GOP elected leaders. other side is engaging in a massive effort to induce amnesia, Clinton declared. In another possible hint that she may run again, Clinton said becoming a grandmother recently has made her think harder about what American will be Womens Ryan Clady Jersey like a quarter century from now.
Clinton made sure to give a shoutout from the stage to Seth Magaziner, the 31 year old Democratic nominee for treasurer who is locked in a competitive race with independent Ernie Almonte. The Clintons have long been close to Ira Magaziner, the nominee father, who lives in Bristol, and his wife.
have known Seth since he was born, and as The Providence Journal recently put it, if Rhode Islanders want bright, energetic, honest leadership Seth is your man, Clinton said.