Jackson Free Press

Mississippi has suddenly found itself a focus of presidential politics as the March 11 primary approaches, and the two major Democratic candidates scrap for votes. Sen. Hillary Clinton attended the 26th annual Jefferson-Jackson Hamer Day Dinner last night in Canton, and Sen. Barack Obama announced today that he would attend a rally at Jackson State University on Monday evening.

In Canton last night, Clinton promised to begin troop withdrawal from Iraq in six months, saying the country needed to focus on winning the battle in Afghanistan. Obama has criticized Clinton for her initial support of the Iraqi War.

Clinton also promised big changes in the economy, and more jobs, similar to the good economic times during the 1990s, when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was leading the economy.

"People like to say (the 1990s) are ancient history. Well, it's not like it's ancient Rome. It was only 10 years ago when were creating more than 22 million new jobs, when the average family's income went up more than $7,000 a year, and more people were lifted out of poverty than in any time in our country's recent history," she said Thursday.

"There's no reason we can't do that, so long as we have a president who is a good steward of the economy, who will get us back to being fiscally responsibly. End the war in Iraq, bring that money back home and put it to work here in Mississippi," Clinton told a crowd of about 2,000.

Clinton promised to dedicate national resources to developing "clean, renewable energy," such as solar and wind power. "We've got to do it for our security. We can't keep sending millions of dollars off to other countries," she said.

Jackson resident Sam Begley supports Clinton over Obama, saying Clinton would have an advantage in moderate-to-conservative states during the general election.

"I think Hillary will have to make her case, but you can see where she's popular in the states that matter. Not the blue states, but the purple states, where she has an edge," Begley said, predicting a windfall for Democrats against Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, no matter who won the Democratic Primary.

"The numbers game for Democrats is still good. There's a lot of inroad for Democrats in red states like Iowa, Arizona and Colorado. All those states were real close last time. What I really think is that Democrats will just kick ass this time around. I mean, you go a guy running for Republicans who is basically a new Bob Dole."

There were plenty of Obama supporters at the dinner, though Obama will not appear in Mississippi until Monday when he will lead a rally at Jackson State University's Lee E. Williams Athletic Center.

Jackson resident Karen Quay said she favors Obama, saying he would cleanse the nation's suffering international image.

"I think Obama can change the conversation internationally, but I also think Hillary will not be able to separate herself from the public's mind from Bill, and when I saw what happened in South Carolina, it made me realize that it really will be a 'Billary' campaign."

Quay dismissed the argument that the youthful Obama would cost the party some older voters during the general election.

"I think that notion is silly. Obama represents everybody. He has a different perspective, and that perspective itself cuts across generations. I'm almost 65 myself, and I count myself in that group, and he sure speaks to me," Quay said.

Another Clinton supporter, Kelly Jacobs of Hernando, said she supported Clinton because of her intelligence and experience.

"Hillary's an intelligent, articulate woman. I don't agree with everything about her. She has not held her position on getting out of the War in Iraq like I wanted, but you never get a candidate that has everything you want. I trust her to do what's right for the country. When she's running the shift, it'll be her call. People aren't going to keep information from her and prevent her from making the best decision because she takes charge."

Jacobs passionately dismissed notions that Clinton was less electable than Obama. Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, for instance, has been urging Republicans to cross over and vote for Clinton in the Democratic primary so that McCain will have an easier fight against her.

"What does Rush Limbaugh know?" Jacobs said. "He has to take drugs just to get an idea or an opinion. I don't care about him, and I don't listen to his show. I read about Hillary's plan for the future, her plans for the American people ... She brought health care and education to Mississippi through her programs and we had the best economy and more peace and prosperity under the Clinton's presidency than we had from Bush, who refuses to even get us out of his own war. He's leaving that for our next president to do."

Begley said right-wing radio would indeed have a harder fight against Obama than Clinton in the general election.

"They need to have a villain, and they've spent 12 years making Clinton the new Democratic villain, and it'll be hard to transfer that to Obama because they don't know how to handle that without being called overtly racist," he said.

Today, Clinton campaigns in Hattiesburg. For Obama's JSU rally on Monday, doors will open at 5 p.m.

Previous Comments

ID

99170

Comment

Ill be camping out monday morning since i have no class on monday. I bet its goona be packed.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2008-03-07T12:50:05-06:00

ID

99171

Comment

Hope I can find a parking space.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-03-07T12:57:59-06:00

ID

99172

Comment

I will be there. Can't wait! :)

Author

ellen

Date

2008-03-07T14:14:57-06:00

ID

99173

Comment

From the Obama site: For security reasons, do not bring bags and limit personal items. No signs or banners are permitted.

Author

msgrits

Date

2008-03-07T18:13:04-06:00

ID

99174

Comment

I hope the BOOM welcomes OBAMA with GET READY and a Rendition of WE CAME TO PLAY/ WE CAME TO BEAT HILLALRY. He needs this as his PEP RALLY hes had a TOUGH weak. http://vod.themarchingnetwork.com/category/Jackson+State/64/3c76fee2-e654-4cd4-b867-98df00da8bc3.htm

Author

NewJackson

Date

2008-03-07T18:28:50-06:00

ID

99175

Comment

Posted on January 23, 2008 The New York Observer Endorsement of Barack Obama Lost amid the sound and fury of this year’s primary season is the certainty, not the promise, of change. For the first time since 1952, there is no heir apparent to the administration in power. The stakes have rarely been higher in a presidential election. The question is not if there will be change in American leadership, but what kind. And the change that is being offered has a focus and intelligence that is kindred to the best American traditions. It is embodied by one candidate in the Democratic Party who is offering a reinvigorated America: Senator Barack Obama. The New York Observer urges New York Democrats to support Mr. Obama in the state’s presidential primary on Feb. 5. New Yorkers might ask why they should not pull a lever for our junior senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton. While Mrs. Clinton is an extraordinary United States senator for New York, we believe that Mr. Obama can be a great president for the United States of America. Most of the other candidates have absorbed, assimilated or appropriated Mr. Obama’s issue of change. It is a powerful concept. But a great deal of the argument for Mr. Obama’s candidacy is about one great issue in American life: restoring and reinvigorating American democracy. Democracy is the greatest strength of this still-young nation. Its living enactment is our gift to the world. It is the product of our best instincts and most powerful ideals. But it has been polluted, sullied and compromised by an obstructive administration that seems to have to have no particular regard for its attributes. It is difficult to remember the last national candidate who has charged and jazzed the democratic system as Mr. Obama has. Partly as a result of his candidacy, college campuses have remembered why they are proud of the United States, kids are going door to door, runners are handing out leaflets on weekends, racial lines have been culturally melted and the electoral approach to presidential campaigning has been reborn. And, as more than one commentator has said, America is being reintroduced to the world. Because of who he is and what he stands for, a former constitutional law teacher with few ties to the Washington establishment yet a sophisticated respect for it, Mr. Obama stands the best chance of restoring the essential relationship between power and the American people. He is not flanked and blocked by an existing, entrenched power structure; his words are not muddied by layers of handlers; he still says what he means. We believe that Mr. Obama’s idealism and fresh ideas would ensure that the end of the Bush era would also mean an end to government by secrecy, Cheneyism, arrogance, oligarchy; an end to mindless armed unilateralism abroad; an end to the blustering, rank partisan disputes of the last quarter-century. Mr. Obama has found his strength in the generation that succeeded the baby boomers, speaking for the frustrations of those who wish that their leaders would get over themselves, get over the 1960’s, get on with resolving issues that threaten our global leadership. Mr. Obama is an inclusive figure at a time when our popular culture demands that we embrace a new America while still comprehending the lessons of hard-won history—from World War II through the fall of the Berlin Wall—that have brought us to a free world in 2008. He is also determined to mend this nation. Mr. Obama, as Walt Whitman did, hears America singing, not snarling. Too many candidates have turned opponents into traitors, critics into jackals. Mr. Obama believes the nation yearns to see hope and inspiration and courage emerge victorious from the era’s gauntlet of hypocrisy and lies and false bravado. Imagine, for a moment, any other candidate this year saying what Mr. Obama said at the 2004 Democratic National Convention: “The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into red states and blue states; red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and yes, we got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.” That is a song we have not heard for too long a time. It is the kind of song that can make citizens of spectators, Americans of couch potatoes, patriots of slackers. Mr. Obama would also be the most formidable Democrat in the general election. He has demonstrated a capacity to energize young people and attract new voters, and is the only candidate in the Democratic Party who attracts independents, who are the fastest-growing part of the electorate. His refusal to demonize the Republican Party as a right-wing attack machine will appeal to those independents as well as moderate Republicans. Mr. Obama, it is true, is hardly an experienced Washington hand, which surely explains the freshness of his vision and the power of his life experience. His opponents have hit this issue hard. But as far as experience goes, to those Americans who celebrated finding ourselves with our first M.B.A. president in 2000—we can only advise them to look at the $9 trillion national debt in 2008. And when George W. Bush was driving a bleary, shocked nation into war with bait-and-switch deceptions in 2003, where was our experienced leadership? Meanwhile, in the west, an Illinois state senator—who has since served three years in the Senate, the same Congressional period that a fellow Midwesterner, Abraham Lincoln, had served when he sought the presidency—rose to exhibit courage and public judgment on that deceptive adventure, stating, “I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.” Now we have paid the price many times over, and there are no clear paths in Baghdad. But there may be one in Washington. Mr. Obama is the emblem of a new America. He has risen too quickly for his opponents’ taste; that fact is nothing less than a recommendation. His relationship to truth and plain speaking and public transparency is the first step toward reviving democracy in the United States of America. Barack Obama of Illinois is the future. Democrats everywhere should embrace him.

Author

Robert65

Date

2008-03-08T20:31:40-06:00

ID

99176

Comment

"Clinton also promised big changes in the economy, and more jobs, similar to the good economic times during the 1990s, when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was leading the economy." Laura Bush is as qualified to run for the GOP nomination as is Hillary. She slept in the White House. W was home more often too. As to the Clinton "successes:" Bill signed NAFTA. How many people saw their jobs go south with that? Bill signed the China Trade Normalization Act. I would have preferred to see America's container port cranes built at Pascagoula rather than in China. Hillary did not vote against the credit card industry's 'Bankruptcy Reform"-Obama voted NO. Hope your wife or your children don't get sick because like a lot of people it will bankrupt you, only problem is you can't discharge your debts anymore. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0312-03.htm Obama wins over McCain. Hillary loses. That's why Rush and Ann Coulter are supporting her. Finally, Hillary's 'experience' is legion. Problem is, it's with crooks and insiders and Wall Street and all the people that are going to collect by getting cabinet positions and payoff if she becomes president. Lot of history there: Here's a memory device: http://prorev.com/connex.htm

Author

TruthRider

Date

2008-03-09T22:36:03-06:00

ID

99177

Comment

I am going to the Obama speech this evening. How quickly do y'all think the athletic center will fill up? I am going to try to be there by 4.

Author

Lis E Blair

Date

2008-03-10T11:25:41-06:00

ID

99178

Comment

I am going to the Obama speech this evening. How quickly do y'all think the athletic center will fill up? I am going to try to be there by 4. I hope it doesn't fill up too quickly, because I'm not going to be able to make it until about 4:00, as well. According to JSU's website, the center can hold up to 8,000.

Author

ellen

Date

2008-03-10T12:41:49-06:00

ID

99179

Comment

Doors don't open until 5... So, you'll probably have a decent place in line if you get there by 4:30.

Author

kaust

Date

2008-03-10T13:01:13-06:00

ID

99180

Comment

iam headed there now

Author

NewJackson

Date

2008-03-10T13:29:33-06:00

ID

99181

Comment

The JSU Obama appearance apparently hit its mark; Chelsea is now coming to Tougaloo tonight: NEW DETAILS: Chelsea Clinton to Continue Campaigning in Mississippi Jackson, MS - The Clinton campaign today announced new details of Chelsea Clinton’s visit to Mississippi today, Monday, March 10. Later today, she will meet with voters in Grenada and Jackson to talk about why her mother is the best candidate to deliver real change on the issues important to Mississippi families - enacting quality, affordable health care, jumpstarting our economy, and bringing out troops home from Iraq. Chelsea will host an “Our Voice, Our Future” event at First and Green on the Square in Grenada. Later this evening, she hosts a roundtable with students at Tougaloo College in Jackson. This morning, Chelsea campaigned in Oxford and Batesville. Monday, March 10 Oxford, MS à Batesville, MS à Grenada, MS à Jackson, MS 3:00 p.m. CST Chelsea Clinton Hosts “Our Voice, Our Future” Event First and Green on the Square 97 1st Street Grenada, MS OPEN PRESS   7:00 p.m. CST Chelsea Clinton Hosts Roundtable with Students and Faculty Tougaloo College (Owens Health and Wellness Center) 500 West County Line Road Tougaloo, MS OPEN PRESS ###

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-03-10T14:00:40-06:00

ID

99182

Comment

She's been here in MS since yesterday...

Author

kaust

Date

2008-03-10T14:14:32-06:00

ID

99183

Comment

WJTV will have a live stream of Obama's speech on their Web site starting at 7 PM tonight.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-03-10T16:04:52-06:00