Clinton's final NC stop
Posted: Monday, May 05, 2008 2:46 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- While in North Carolina, Hillary Clinton has held rallies in high school gyms, pickup trucks and even the state’s Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Her final stop before tomorrow’s primary was the second held at a train station, where this afternoon she competed with a rumbling freight train to make her pitch.
“I love being in a train station; I really do,” she said. “I hope someday we can actually get back to having high-speed trains going back and forth across our country.”
She spoke for just over a half hour, emphasizing her view that voters should consider her specific plans before making what she called a “historic decision.”
“We can’t do it just by wishing for it. We can’t do it just by hoping for it,” she said. “Prayer helps, but hard work also is something we gotta do together. You know, I’m a Methodist, and we believe in doing all the good that you can every day that you can. And that means we come together and we set some goals and we go about achieving them.”
She also stressed her plan for short-term relief on issues like the mortgage crisis and the cost of fuel.
“I believe that part of the job of a president is not just for long-term planning,” she said, “which I am 100 percent in favor of, but living in the here and now to try to make it clear to American families, middle class people, hardworking folks that somebody hears you, and somebody sees you, and somebody know what's going on right here in High Point.”
She took a more folksy approach, saying she has always wanted to come to this town and “go in and out of all these stores.” “I’ll have to come back, maybe when we get to the general election,” she added.
She even spoke with the slightest hint of a drawl, as she talked about a Carolina staple.
“We have eaten barbecue from one end of this state to other,” she said. “You know, for a while I was a little worried because every sighting of my husband was going into or coming out of barbecue joint. I said, ‘Oh, I just hope his cardiologist doesn't read that!’”
Introducing Clinton, Gov. Mike Easley called her “strong as train smoke.” But the New York senator saw trouble coming as a train approached near the end of her remarks, and decided to cut herself short rather than fight to be heard.
“That’s why it’s so important, that as this train goes by,” she said, “we think that it’s taking us into the future and we’re all gonna be on it.”
