Diner-stop stumping

TERRE HAUTE – Sen. Hillary Clinton kicked off an all-day campaign tour of Indiana Thursday by promising to bring new jobs to the Hoosier state as hundreds of rowdy and enthusiastic supporters lined up downtown to cheer her on.\nThe Democratic presidential candidate discussed her plans to prop up the flagging American economy and improve health care coverage and education for Hoosiers at a packed downtown diner before delivering a speech with a similar message to a waiting crowd out back.\nThe morning meet and greet at Terre Haute’s Saratoga Restaurant was just the first of Clinton’s three planned campaign stops Thursday – she also made an afternoon rally in Anderson, Ind., followed by an evening speech in Evansville.\nThe trip represents Clinton’s response to Democratic rival Barack Obama’s whirlwind speech to more than 2,000 supporters near Indianapolis last Saturday. Former President Bill Clinton made a three-city speaking tour of eastern Indiana on behalf of his wife Tuesday, hitting Lawrenceburg, Richmond and Fort Wayne.\nIndiana’s May 6 primary, with 84 delegates at stake, could be the last battleground in a long and bruising Democratic primary season. Clinton and Obama are running tight, with 1,498 and 1,617 pledged delegates, respectively, according to The Associated Press. Both are well shy of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.\nMany of the older voters in the crowd were unequivocal in their support for Clinton.\nLibby Llewellyn, a Terre Haute native, said she lined up outside of Saratoga Restaurant at 2:45 a.m. in order to be the first to see Clinton for her 10:30 a.m. arrival. Llewellyn said she sees the senator as a strong, honest woman and likes her plan to end the Iraq War.\nMany younger voters weren’t so committed, however. Indiana State University freshman Jenny Ross skipped work and a 9 a.m. class and showed up with a sign that read “Bill for First Man,” though she conceded that she was still unsure whether she would vote for the senator. More than anything, Ross said, she turned out to catch a glimpse of “a potential next president.”\n“How often do you even get to see someone like this in Terre Haute?” she said.\nThough she focused primarily on her plan to improve the flagging economy, Clinton also outlined her ideas to make college education more accessible. These include increasing the amount of Pell Grants and other federal aid available to students, cracking down on predatory college loan practices and introducing tax credits to help pay for the cost of college. She also said she plans to launch a federal initiative that will pay for much of a student’s college expenses in exchange for two years of public service work.\nWhen asked about her stance on gay rights, Clinton said she will fight for equal protection and anti-discrimination legislation for the GLBT community and reverse the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy her husband initiated.\n“You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight,” she said, jokingly quoting former Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater.\nHowever, the senator said she does not support legalizing gay marriage and that the issue should be left up to the states.\nIndiana Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh introduced Clinton before she sat down and discussed the rising cost of health care, the loss of manufacturing jobs to overseas and the economic potential of biofuels with six Central Indiana residents in the diner. Their conversation took place in front of a bustling press corps and was piped to a PA system and broadcast to hundreds of supporters outside who weren’t able to snag a seat inside. \nThe senator said she plans to institute a national health insurance program that will make health care coverage available to all Americans and lower the premiums for many families, particularly ones who don’t have employer-provided insurance.\nClinton said, if elected, she plans to renegotiate all American trade agreements with foreign countries and pressure China to change its financial practices. China keeps its currency artificially deflated in relation to the dollar, which makes Chinese exports cheaper in America. These initiatives should make American manufacturing jobs more viable, she added.\n“I want to keep making American cars right here in Indiana,” Clinton said.\nIncluded in the senator’s discussion of energy policy was making biofuels such as corn-based ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel more widely available. In recent years, Indiana has seen wide investment in the biofuels industry and staked part of its economic recovery on that market.\n“We’re going to create jobs and create homegrown energy,” she said.\nHowever, the statement that drew the most applause, both in her speech and in her discussion in the diner, was her proposal to end the military operation in Iraq as quickly as she can, if she is elected.\n“There is no military solution for Iraq,” she said to thunderous applause. “We’re going to bring our sons and daughters home.”