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The campaign blitz that began on Labor Day continued yesterday, with appearances by Hillary herself and by Tim Kaine, Bill Clinton, and Anne Holton. (I’m beginning to see some acknowledgement that Hillary has at least a dozen strong active surrogates campaigning for and with her, while Donald Trump has Mike Pence (sort of) and . . . . Rudy Giuliani, perhaps.)
Hillary flew (in that snazzy new press-friendly plane) to Tampa for an afternoon rally before about 1,500 students and supporters at the University of South Florida. The Tampa Bay Times reported:
TAMPA — With the campaign entering its final two months, Hillary Clinton returned to the Tampa Bay area Tuesday to draw a point-by-point contrast between herself and Republican nominee Donald Trump, especially as a potential commander-in-chief. . . .
Although the speech was touted by her campaign as focusing on national security, the first and last parts were largely about domestic issues like jobs, education and tax policy.
"We're going to make this economy grow, but we're also going to make it fair," Clinton said. She called for raising the minimum wage, giving students relief from college debt, expanding solar energy, growing vocational education and apprenticeship programs and creating a "rapid response fund" for public health emergencies so states like Florida wouldn't have to depend on Congress when facing a threat like the Zika virus. . . .
Clinton characterized [Trump] as flighty and inexperienced with no real plan to fight ISIS.
"He is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be president," she said. By contrast, she said, she would bring diligence, a steady hand and focus to the job. "I'm a very patient person. I don't quit. I don't give up. I don't blink."
It’s possible that the new reporters-on-the-plane policy is having some effect on coverage of Clinton. Bloomberg News published and tweeted out a small clip (with video) from the in-the-aisles “press conference” in which Hillary addressed Trump’s missing tax returns:
Speaking to reporters on her campaign plane en route to a rally in Tampa, Florida, Hillary Clinton blasted her rival Donald Trump for his unreleased taxes. "He clearly has something to hide," the Democratic nominee said.
Tim Kaine was in North Carolina, which is quickly turning into another critical swing state in both the Presidential race and the quest to capture control of the Senate. He gave what was billed as a “major national security speech” at the Hannah Block Historic USO/Community Arts Center in Wilmington, NC. The Wilmington area is not far from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where Kaine’s son has been based, and Fort Bragg.
Kaine blasted Republican nominee Donald Trump as temperamentally unfit to serve as Commander in Chief and for promoting policies that reverse decades of US foreign policy towards NATO and other key allies:
"[Trump] has a bizarre fascination with strongmen and authoritarian leaders in countries that are no allies of the United States, and with respect to our allies, he would toss alliances aside, and says he wants to 'take everything back from the world that we've given to them,'" Kaine charged. "Trump has offered empty promises and divisive rhetoric. Under his leadership, we would be unrecognizable to the rest of the world. And we would be far less safe."
* * * *
"I trust Hillary Clinton to make these decisions with full knowledge that the life of my son and his friends may be riding on the outcome," Kaine said. "And the prospect of the emotionally volatile, fact-challenged, self-obsessed and inexperienced Donald Trump as commander-in-chief scares me to death."
Kaine touted his experience with the Virginia National Guard when he was governor and on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, and said that when it comes to military issues like these, "I take it personally" because his son is serving overseas.
The full video is available on C-Span, here.
Tim also pushed back on Trump’s much-mocked statement that Clinton doesn’t “look Presidential.” Melissa McEwan tweeted:
Hillary’s press secretary also pushed back, with a light touch. Remember this great moment from the Convention?
Bill Clinton was also in North Carolina yesterday, speaking before about 700 people at a community center in Durham. Read igualdad’s wonderful first-hand account of both the official event — and a chance encounter with the former POTUS in the produce section. According to much less enthusiastic US News and World Report,
Former President Bill Clinton argued his wife, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, is the candidate of unity, in political campaigns and in economic gains, during a speech here Tuesday.
"What we need is faster, more fairly shared growth," Clinton said. "The reason you ought to be for Hillary is because of how it will affect you, not who's winning the evening news battle." . . .
* * * * *
Clinton focused most of his message on economics, arguing that Donald Trump's message was divisive and tying his slogan to a recent court battle over North Carolina's controversial voting rights law.
The few references Clinton made to social and racial issues were veiled, and often highlighted the Republican nominee's divisiveness.
SLOTUS-to-be Anne Holton was also on the campaign trail, this time in Dallas, TX. (Tim Kaine told campaign workers in Austin last week that the campaign hadn’t given up on Texas, so it’s good to see another event there so soon.) The Texas Tribune reported:
Politics, however, hardly came up at Holton's two public events, a roundtable on education with educators and students, then a discussion about child welfare with state lawmakers. Holton was mostly deferential during the talks, soliciting Texas-specific input from participants as she imparted lessons from her Virginia service.
At the first event, most concerns focused on school funding in Texas, a perennial issue dating back to the Legislature's decision in 2011 to cut $5 billion from public education. Holton shook her head in disbelief as she was told of the cuts and asked how Texans have felt the impact. . . .
Holton seemed most interested in students' individual stories of how they were making it through college, promising they would be helped by Clinton's proposals to ease the cost of higher education. One, a full-time student at a Dallas community college, said she is paying for her education out of her savings account while working "part time" at a bank — 39 hours a week.
At the second event, which focused on child welfare, Holton relied on her experience as a juvenile and domestic relations district court judge in Richmond.
Anne also spoke at a pair of fundraisers in the Dallas area. Chelsea Clinton headlined a fundraiser last night in New York City.
This level of activity will continue through the week. Today Bill Clinton goes on to a rally in Orlando and a fundraiser in Miami, while Chelsea Clinton will do several events in Pennsylvania. Hillary will appear tonight at the “Commander in Chief Forum,” a town hall format in which she and Trump will respond to questions in back-to-back appearances. (It will air live on MSNBC and most NBC stations at 8 p.m. ET, repeated on NBC at 8 p.m. PT / 9 P.M. MT.) Elizabeth Warren and Michelle Obama also have campaign appearances coming up. HillarySpeeches.com has a handy chart of upcoming major campaign events, with links to the detailed information and RSVP form.
I’m in Philadelphia for a few days (and won’t be able to hang out very long in the comments this morning). On the trip here, I discovered the Amtrak magazine Arrive has a great profile of Kate McKinnon, who plays Hillary on SNL, including the sketch starring the real Hillary as bartender “Val.” Here’s what McKinnon said about rehearsing that skit:
McKinnon was, understandably, nervous about meeting the target of her highest-profile impression.
"[Clinton] arrived around 4 o’ clock that Saturday and we had to do a little music rehearsal. … That was a very strange way to meet a leader of the free world who I’ve admired for decades," McKinnon says, "to have to teach them a song. But she was completely warm and gracious and actually very funny. We ran through the sketch the first time and she hit all the right comedic notes and we [the cast] just looked at each other and were like, ‘Oh, my god. She’s the best.’"
I wonder if we have some unheralded Hillary supporters among the Amtrak publications staff. In any event, it was an all-too-rare description showing Hillary at her best and most sympathetic.
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Crossposted at HillaryHQ, an independent, progressive blog committed to electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States. Please considering supporting the HillaryHQ GoFundMe appeal to enable Scan to continue his independent journalism ad-free through the November election.