Clinton hones message
Campaign targets college vote with East Texas stump speeches
BY TERRIE GONZALEZ

Former President Bill Clinton

NACOGDOCHES - In a campaign swing through East Texas last Friday, former President Bill Clinton targeted the college vote at Stephen F. Austin University with a honed message emphasizing the "solutions business" and Hillary as an "agent of change."

The national delegate count remains close, with Barack Obama holding 1,299 and Hillary Clinton at 1,242. Texas may prove to be the Democratic Party's battleground with 228 delegates at stake. To win the nomination, 2,025 delegates are needed.

Former President Clinton explained the opportunity on March 4 to "legally vote twice without breaking the law." After casting ballots in the primary, voters should attend one of the 8,000 precinct elections at 7:15 on election day and vote again, he said. "It's a delegate race."

The audience participated in the speech with cheers and occasional outbursts of "I love you, Bill," mixed in with resounding boos directed at the Bush administration when Mr. Clinton spoke about the nation's $9 trillion debt.

"We have a lot of big problems, serious problems," he said, citing the strain that the war in Iraq has caused the nation. "You must decide how you want us to change. You have a choice of two immensely popular candidates (Clinton and Obama)."

Calling the economy a big mess, he said the nation must work to avoid a recession.

He said under his administration, 7.7 million people worked their way from poverty to the middle class and the median income jumped $6,000; the number living below the poverty line has increased.

Under the Bush administration, health care costs have doubled, energy prices and food costs have jumped, and people are living on maxed out credit cards, he said. "New jobs are paying 20 percent less than they used to."

He predicted that another one million "of your fellow citizens" are facing foreclosures on homes because of the current mortgage meltdown.

Mr. Clinton called his wife's plan the most aggressive of any of the candidates running for president. "She wants to freeze monthly payments for 90 days, and give $30 million to states," in order to implement a bailout plan.

"We'll tell the mortgage companies: you eat 20 percent, we (the government) will eat 20 percent, you won't foreclose on these people," he said. "When you're in a hole, you quit digging."

Addressing the job market, Mr. Clinton said that one strategy is guaranteed to create new jobs, and that is a serious commitment to a green energy future.

He leveled harsh criticism against the Bush administration for giving large tax credits to oil and gas companies. "They used that money to buy back their own stock and increase profits. Hillary will remove the tax cuts and encourage energy development."

He suggested that if the nation closed all its landfills and built biofuel plants in every populated region, more jobs would be created locally. "You can't put these jobs into a pipeline," he said.

Regarding health care, he said that the nation has a simple, moral obligation to provide medical coverage, and he said the current administration is allowing the tail to wag the dog. "It's a disgrace and it's bankrupting families."

The audience interrupted the speech with cheers when Mr. Clinton suggested that every American should have the opportunity to buy into the same health care plan that is made available to Congress. "There are 250 choices. You buy what fits your family."

Paying for expanded universal health will be easy by eliminating tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent, he said. "This nation has the lowest net worth in 100 years," he said.

The rising costs of obtaining a college education was a hot button topic for Friday's audience, and Mr. Clinton called the current administration's policies a disgrace.

He recommended raising the Pell grants every year, increasing the HOPE tax credit from $1,650 to $3,500 and expanding a youth Ameri- Corp program where years of service can be applied to college debt.

Mr. Clinton said that his wife wants to see teachers, firemen and nurse graduates placed in areas where years of service will pay off your loan.

"This is the solutions business," he underscored.

Mr. Clinton recounted some of Mrs. Clinton's achievements as a New York senator and as a member of the armed forces committee.

She helped obtain body armor for troops, obtained better care for injured veterans and obtained child care for first responders. He said Mrs. Clinton was among the first to recognize that emergency responders in the aftermath of 9-11 were breathing asbestos and other carcinogens at the fallen twin towers.

Regarding the war in Iraq, Mr. Clinton said the real problems are how to divide the political power and split the oil money.

"The nearest example I can give you is this. Your neighbor's house burns, and you take him in. Whether it's one month or six months, even if you don't have a room for him, you let him sleep on the couch. But if he's still there after five years, it's not about the fire anymore."

He said that Iraq has become a stain on the nation's honor.

He said that if Mrs. Clinton is elected, she will be on the job "every single day."

And he said it's okay to keep score.

"A president should be judged by three things," he said. "Are the American people better off when you quit or when you started? Do your children and grandchildren have a brighter future? Is the world coming together or being torn apart?

"This is all that really matters. Think about it." Coming: Televised debate at 7 p.m. Thursday on CNN between Clinton and Obama