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Former president praises other Democrats, but says his wife is 'tried, tested and true'
By Bob Dyer
Beacon Journal columnist
Published on Monday, Feb 18, 2008
CANTON: Bill Clinton came to Canton on Sunday and urged voters to elect Barack Obama.
Just kidding.
As expected, the former president was here to push the candidacy of his wife, Hillary. And he arrived right at the scheduled time.
Kidding again.
In other words, not much about Clinton's visit was surprising. He ran long at his first stop of the day, in Toledo, and by the time he flew into Akron-Canton Airport and made his way to Timken High School in Canton, he was 52 minutes late.
But when he finally walked out onto the wooden floor from behind a blue curtain at 2:37 p.m., the roughly 500 people who had jammed into Timken's tiny gymnasium greeted him as if he were a rock star.
Flashes from digital cameras and camera phones bombarded him throughout his talk.
He was surrounded on three sides by spectators and on the fourth by portable aluminum bleachers filled with two dozen state and local officials, including Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, who endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last week.
The silver-haired Clinton spent most of his 52-minute talk spelling out programs that he said would solve the country's economic, education, energy and health-care problems.
Energetic and animated, with a voice less raspy than usual, he continued the Clinton camp's recent game plan of painting Sen. Obama as a great orator but someone without concrete solutions.
However, his criticism of the Democratic front-runner was mild, a notable departure from earlier in the campaign. In fact, Clinton said any of the Democrats who had been in the field would have been good choices, mentioning by name Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, John Edwards
and Obama.
He pointed out that he had once campaigned for Obama, and lauded him as a man who ''has inspired so many.'' Still, he said, Democratic voters have a clear-cut choice, which he characterized as ''fresh and new versus tried, tested and true.''
In most cases, he was preaching to the choir. The vast majority of cheering, sign-waving spectators already had every intention of filling in Hillary's circle in the March 4 primary.
Typical was Nelwin Santelle of North Canton, who said he believes in the collective Clinton: ''It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, and it's going to take another Clinton to clean up after the second Bush.''
But some observers were still on the fence, including the aptly named Dean Whitehouse of Canton. When asked what drew him downtown on a dreary Sunday, he replied, ''Indecision. We want to see what Bill has to say.''
He likes Hillary Clinton's experience but is fond of Obama because the senator ''comes across as very sincere. I just like him.''
Others came simply to see a U.S. president in the flesh. ''I've never seen a president before,'' said Candice Bryson of Jackson Township.
At least one Obama supporter was on hand, and he made himself known early and often. A middle-aged African-American standing near the rear of the gym, he periodically yelled out ''Obama'' throughout the long wait and several times during Clinton's speech. Most of the crowd ignored him, and he was not confronted, but Clinton seemed annoyed.
The line to get in snaked across the campus. People began to gather three hours before the scheduled start, many of them waiting through periods of cold drizzle.
About 98 percent were white, most middle aged and split almost evenly male-to-female.
Once inside the gym, they were serenaded by recordings of mainstream pop, rock and country music. Some of the choices seemed odd, namely Danger Zone from the movie Top Gun, which glorified aerial dogfighting — not something you'd expect from a candidate whose husband says one of her first acts will be to ''bring our soldiers home from Iraq.''
Clinton reiterated in great detail his wife's plan to institute universal health care, provide federal subsidies to lessen the subprime mortgage crisis and create jobs in hard-hit states like Ohio.
The local politicos were reveling in the fact that Ohio appears to be one of two states (with Texas) that will decide who wins the Democratic nomination. Said Gov. Ted Strickland: ''When Ohio speaks, America will listen.''
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland led an ''O-H'' ''I-O'' call-and-response.
Without mentioning Hillary's eight straight primary defeats, Bill Clinton pointed out that Ohio has salvaged underdogs before — including him.
When he campaigned here in 1992, he said, he was running third in the polls behind not only the elder Bush but also independent Ross Perot.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
CANTON: Bill Clinton came to Canton on Sunday and urged voters to elect Barack Obama.
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