Clinton supports Brown campaign

BY STEPHEN ORAVECZ Tribune Chronicle

AUSTINTOWN — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton brought more than 1,000 people to their feet Saturday morning at the Austintown Fitch High School by blasting Republicans on the deficit, foreign trade, rising college tuition, botched elections and the war in Iraq.

‘‘We’re headed in the wrong direction,’’ said Clinton, D-N.Y., who was campaigning on behalf of Rep. Sherrod Brown’s bid to unseat Ohio Republican Sen. Mike DeWine.

Also stumping for Brown were actors Luke Perry and Adam Brody, but Nancy Wilhelm of Austintown said she attended her first political rally Saturday to see Clinton.

Wilhelm, who came with her daughter and granddaughter, said, ‘‘I loved it.’’ Jobs are the top political issue for Wilhelm because only one of her four children still lives in the Mahoning Valley.

‘‘I don’t feel Republicans have done anything for us,’’ Wilhelm said, while Clinton brought a ‘‘vibrancy’’ the area needs.

Austintown was Clinton’s only stop on Brown’s three-day, nine-city College Tour. After the morning rally, she attended a fund-raiser for Brown. Perry, Brody and others, including Democratic attorney general candidate Marc Dann, a state senator from Liberty, also campaigned with Brown in Kent and Cleveland.

John McClelland, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party, said, ‘‘The contrast between the two candidates couldn’t be any clearer than today. While Sen. Mike DeWine spent his day visiting with grassroots volunteers and making phone calls to Ohio voters, Sherrod Brown was rubbing elbows with everyone’s favorite liberal, Hillary Clinton.î

Clinton and Brown hammered away at middle-class issues.

Clinton said the Bush administration inherited a balanced budget but borrowed more money than every other president of United States combined, creating what she called a ‘‘birth tax.’’ Every child born in the United States is ‘‘carrying $28,000 of debt on their little tiny shoulders. You’re already in debt before you take your first breath, before you get spanked on your rear.’’

The United States is borrowing that money from other counties, including China. At the same time, Clinton said people tell her that China cheats and doesn’t follow rules for trade, and they ask why American can’t get tough on China.

‘‘Well how do you get tough with your banker?’’ Clinton said.

Meanwhile, she said, the United States is making cuts in college loan programs and health care while failing to make investments in an alternative energy to grow the economy and create jobs.

‘‘We’re not even taking care of people the way we should,’’ she said.

Saying DeWine turned his back on the middle class and backed a tax cut that favored the wealthiest American families over working families, Brown offered his own list of what separates the two:

‘‘I’m for the minimum wage, Mike DeWine voted against it nine times; I’m for fixing No Child Left Behind, Mike DeWine thinks its working just fine; I’m for embryonic stem cell research, Mike DeWine opposes it; Mike DeWine support a Medicare bill written by the drug companies, (Rep.) Tim Ryan and I opposed a Medicare bill written by the drug companies; Mike DeWine supports an energy bill written by the oil companies, I opposed an energy bill written by the oil companies; Mike DeWine voted for the Iraq war, I voted against it.’’

Brown distorted DeWine’s record on the minimum wage, said DeWine spokesman Brian Seitchik. DeWine, who was in Boardman last week, supports the ballot issue to raise Ohio’s minimum wage and for the last six years has voted for every bill to increase the federal minimum wage.

Brown voted for one of the biggest tax increases in American history, Seitchik said, but DeWine has voted for tax cuts that have helped the middle class.

DeWine has worked with Democrats to make prescription drugs safer for children, and Seitchik said, ‘‘If Sherrod Brown had his way, seniors would not have prescription drug coverage today.’’

On national security, Seitchik said DeWine voted to pass the Patriot Act that gives federal agencies the power they need to stop terrorists along with Clinton, while Brown voted against it.

McClelland said, ‘‘Sherrod Brown claims to put Ohioans first, but his votes are consistently on the left-wing fringe of his own party, completely outside of the mainstream values Ohioans hold so dear.’’

Wilhelm was not the only one smitten with Clinton.

Loretta Sasinouski of Youngstown said Clinton seemed straight forward and own to earth.

‘‘I feel like I could have dinner with her and be on the same page,’’ Sasinouski said. ‘‘I don’t know is she would feel that way.’’

Joseph Kim, 17, Andrea Wilfong, 17, and several other Fitch students were encouraged by Democrats’ promise to stop the rapid rise in college tuition costs.

‘‘I hope they carry out what they say,’’ Wilfong said.

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10/09/2006 / Permalink / (all tags)