Published: May 06, 2008 10:12 am            

Clinton makes a last stop in New Albany

Today’s primary critical to her presidential bid

Indiana voters will head to the polls today, and Hillary Clinton, campaigning for the Democratic Party nomination for president, made one more stop in New Albany on Monday trying to drum up support.

“It’s exciting in a campaign. We come out and talk to the voters, but then it is up to you — you’re going to have to decide who will be the president,” Clinton said to a crowd of more than 300 people gathered at the New Albany Fire Department Headquarters along Spring Street. “This is a vote that will determine if we repair the last years of Bush and Cheney. If you used to be a Republican, welcome, we’re glad to have you.

“If you’re a Democrat, we have had enough — it’s time to take back the White House.”

A supporter in the crowd proudly displayed a white posterboard sign with a drawing of the White House across the front, and above it were written the words, “Welcome Home.”

Clinton, D-N.Y., and rival Barack Obama, D-Ill., are both aware that Indiana voters could be a deciding factor in the presidential race this year, and have spent considerable time in the state trying to sway voters. For the Clinton family — Hillary, Bill and Chelsea — the last stop in New Albany makes their 100th visit in the state.

As of Monday morning, voter registration in Clark County, at 77,000, had increased about 15 percent since the last presidential election in 2004 between John Kerry and President Bush, when there were 65,388 people registered to vote.

At the rally Monday, a little boy sat on his father’s shoulders with a sign held in his outstretched arms which read, “Hillary will cure my diabetes” written in glitter across the neon green posterboard.

And at the rally, Clinton noticed the poster, too.

“Other countries are not standing still, we have got to get moving again,” she said, addressing the boy with the poster board. “We are on the brink of breakthroughs in diabetes.

“I’m not afraid to compete, but we have got to have a plan — you say ‘here’s what we’re going to do, offense, defense — let’s win for America.’”

As Clinton walked off the stage Monday night, a Tom Petty song played over the speakers, “I Won’t Back Down” a fitting theme for the night.

And fitting for a race that could last until the August Democratic Party convention in Denver.

“Help us make the case we need,” Clinton said, appealing to the voters gathered at the station, and those who will be watching on TV across the nation. “To be the Commander in Chief we need on day one, to be the president who can turn the economy around, to be the candidate who can take on John McCain.”

        

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