Clinton Speaks on Edwards and Arkansas
EmailABC News’ Kate Snow and Eloise Harper Report: Senator Hillary Clinton says she’s not seeking Sen. John Edwards’ endorsement but she’d be glad to have his supporters.
"I have not because I think this up to Senator Edwards," she said of a potential endorsement.
Speaking to reporters following an event in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton said she wanted to express her "appreciation and admiration" for the North Carolina senator.
"I want to wish John and Elizabeth well and thank him for running a great campaign and it was really important to millions and millions of Americans," she said.
Clinton added Edwards’ campaign brought important issues to the forefront.
"We are all as Democrats committed to make sure poverty remains on the agenda…[and] once we take back the White House, to address the needs of people who are invisible," she said.
The New York senator said she would leave the analysis about the impact of Edwards’ departure from the race to pundits, but she said she was not concerned about a potential Obama endorsement of Edwards.
"This is up to Senator Edwards to decide how he’s going to participate if at all in the upgoing campaign," she replied.
Clinton last spoke with Edwards this morning.
Clinton was also asked if she saw a division between her supporters and Obama’s supporters. Did she think it was a fair characterization to say that Obama supporters were deciding with their "hearts" while her supporters were deciding with their "heads"?
"I ask them to vote both," Clinton replied. She said she offered an "integrated view" and reminded reporters that "electing a woman would be a tremendous change."
The event in Little Rock was something of a homecoming for Clinton.
"This is like being at home," she said as she took the stage in the center of a basketball court at North Little Rock High School, surrounded on all sides by Arkansans.
"We’re gonna have a conversation today. And I am thrilled to have so many of my friends with me today."
"I am really having a lot of flashbacks here because there are so many stories that come flooding into my mind," Clinton reminisced.
She told stories of living in Arkansas and bragged about knowing its country roads and towns. She recalled being married in Fayetteville and giving birth to her daughter at a nearby hospital.
Then Clinton launched into her standard stump speech—with talk about eliminating poverty, creating new energy sources, ending the war in Iraq, improving education and access to college loans.
"Think how many teachers we’re losing because they can’t afford to go into teaching," she said of graduating students who struggle to re-pay student loan debts.
Clinton did not mention her remaining rival by name. The speech was almost entirely about her record.
And her signature lines from days before the loss in South Carolina– about "working for change" instead of just "hoping for it," about "false hopes," or not "taking a chance" — were all missing.
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Did you hear about Clinton’s ties to Mccain and the republican party? did you know she started out as a republican? BETRAYAL! Sources have said that she is secretly disguised as a democrat with Republican motives? Hillary is Bad. She is no good and a liar! She made race an issue in deciding which was wrong! she thinks that JUSt because she is a woman, women should vote for her. But she is old and tired and so is bill. they ar eth epast. Boring old politics and Bill can’t wait to be in the white house again to divide us AGAIN. Hillary only cares about those that are in HER best interest. just listen to her.
Posted by: KHALIL | January 30, 2008, 4:34 pm 4:34 pm
Why cant we all get along.
Posted by: Harold | January 30, 2008, 5:03 pm 5:03 pm
Harold (previous poster): We can’t all get along because of Race Baiters like Bill and Hillary Clinton!
Wow – Clinton talks like she knows she just lost Edward’s endorsement!
Posted by: Ann B. | January 30, 2008, 5:40 pm 5:40 pm
Yeah Hillary was a Goldwater girl early on in her life, she converted sometime in college.
Posted by: Ryan | January 30, 2008, 5:58 pm 5:58 pm
She has been helping people since she was a lawyer in Arkansas, tell me one political figure that doesn’t have a past. She will make the right decisions that she should and is more than qualified to have.
Does anyone remember waaaay back when unemployment was at a historical low, and national debt was at an all time low, and policies to protect the environment where put in place and to increase jobs not take jobs away? AHEM,,, that was the time that Hillary and Bill were in office, she can do twice what Bill did and with more integrity!
She Has My Vote!
Posted by: dylan | January 30, 2008, 6:16 pm 6:16 pm
PUTTING HLLARY IN THE WHITE HOUSE WOULD BE LIKE KEEPING BUSH THERE.SHE WOULD JUST PICK UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF SCREWING THE NATION UP.IF HER SUPPORTERS DON’T SEE THAT,THEN THEY ARE TRULY BLIND. BUT WHO KNOWS, MAYBE THEY LIKE THINGS THE WAY THEY ARE,WHICH IS VERY SAD!
Posted by: merle77 | January 30, 2008, 6:21 pm 6:21 pm
Obama is making remarks about how Hillary is siding with the republicans on the war.. Obama, your whole message is how you plan on being a uniter, change. Hillary listened to all the reports on wmd’s and saddam. We all felt we had no choice, but we all felt remorse of going to war. We were all lied to about what led up to the war. Obama trying to make this an issue on her record. She was doing what any non partisan senator would do. She worked with her senators, to come to an agreement on the choice to go to war. Obama you are no Hillary, she listens to all sides, that is what you HOPE to do. My choice is experience, you can’t get that from endorsements. He is crazy to act like he is fresh and new, when you accept endorsements from the ‘establishment’that he so hates. He is a hypocrite, he is a liar, and a fraud. If you are against the war, you would never ever vote for funding.
Posted by: Diann | January 30, 2008, 6:23 pm 6:23 pm
No, Snake older people don’t vote for Obama because many of them are prejudiced and grew up with Jim Crow laws. Obama’s plans DO involve brains. Clinton has co-opted or plagiarized every other plan and claimed it as her own. If you follow this closely and not think with your own heart you would know this. Basicially Obama won’t make it not because he lacks merit, but because he has the wrong skin tone. And people like you have a kneejerk reaction before you look for substance.
Now watch ABC delete this post….
Posted by: dionysus | January 30, 2008, 6:25 pm 6:25 pm
Poor Hilliary, can’t win with Bill; Can’t win without him. So much for being your own “girl.” Lady, your like 60, it’s time to be an ADULT now…
Posted by: wake up! | January 30, 2008, 6:37 pm 6:37 pm
Snake, as one of the young people you claim doesn’t “think much when they vote,” I have to say I’m quite offended. I place a great deal of thought into my vote and am proud to support Obama for a number of reasons, including his soaring rhetoric. He will be able to work across party lines in a way that Hillary cannot.
If you believe that only “thinkers” can vote for Hillary, I shudder to imagine what you think of Hillary’s delegate rigging shenanigans in Florida and Michigan. If she’s willing to cheat and steal her way to a nomination, what can we expect from her as Commander in Chief?
If she’d rather triangulate than make a principled stand, what does that say about her principles? As Abraham Lincoln said, “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything.”
Obama’s economic stimulus package is better, his health care plan is better, his principles are better, and he is committed to working for a better America, not just restoring familial power regardless of the cost.
Posted by: Jake | January 30, 2008, 6:47 pm 6:47 pm
Obama has the biggest cry babies supporting him.
Posted by: Bob | January 30, 2008, 7:00 pm 7:00 pm
Jake – I’d just say that Obama has stronger support among the more educated, and Clinton has more support among the less educated. That’s a fact, which has been demonstrated across polling organizations in multiple states.
Now, I’m not saying education equals intelligence, nor that it indicates a tendency to make more informed political choices. But to argue the reverse – that the less formally educated make more educated political decisions – is an even harder debate to win.
Posted by: Paul | January 30, 2008, 7:04 pm 7:04 pm
I just wish Hillary was a Canadian our politicians are so full of themselves and can’t fight their way out of a paper bag.
Posted by: gramma moses | January 30, 2008, 8:23 pm 8:23 pm
Obama is so popmpous, so full of himsself, and a fraud.
He has copied the soaring retoric style of Martin Luther King to attract those that think he walks on water, when he really is an empty suit.
Too bad Caroline Kennedy was taken in when she said he reminds her of her father..believe me, Obama is no JFK or
RFK. Jackie Kennedy loved Hillary, and is probably spinning in her grave.
He is still very immature, and not ready for the White House. He would do well as a basketball coach, not as the leader of the free world!
He has audacity, for sure, for he is running on poetry and not prose.
Grandma
Posted by: Mildred Levine | January 31, 2008, 4:34 am 4:34 am
It is very easy for older people to ally with an older candidate. In Florida, all of those retirees who can afford to spend their last years under the sun are voting for Clinton. Yes, it is easy to vote for one of your own, an older white woman. The point is: are you thinking about future generations when you are casting your vote or just thinking about yourself? The sad truth is that the answer is probably the last one. Think about your grandchildren and globalization, we live in a multicultural world with so many global challenges for our children. The world is very different now, the old days are gone. Think about the future!
Posted by: carmen | January 31, 2008, 5:06 am 5:06 am
This is exemplary of the kind of class and style Hillary has. She is by far the most qualified and the most presidential of the two remaining candidates. I applaud her courage and strength to hold her head up high and fight against nay sayers, such as the media pundits and Obama. Hillary has shown that she can take the hits and still keep her composure and remain true to herself and her stances, unlike the OTHER guy who has transfigured before our eyes throughout this primary election and who can’t dare to take a sharp position on an issue, at the risk of possibly making an error, and then paying for the backlash and losing his bid for the presidency. Hillary we love you in California, and you will be our president on day one in 2009. GOOOOOO HILLARY!!!! =)
Posted by: Maris | January 31, 2008, 6:08 am 6:08 am
Maris,
Great Words. I totally agree with you. When I look at Obama’s voting history and he voted present over 130 times because he does not want to commit or take a stance on any issue. This guy thinks he can dance and use the style of MLK to the Whitehouse. We are not all caught up by the media.
Hillary is very bright and when she speaks I find her captivating. She is a proven senator and I believe she truly does wants to make a difference. GOOOOO Hillary!
Posted by: Frank | January 31, 2008, 9:08 am 9:08 am
If you have been around politics for very long you would have known that both parties have changed dramatically since Goldwater days! That party change doesn not make her a liar, only a smarter person for seeing the ills of the Republican party! As for the “old” comment, you should know that there is a reason the US has had older presidents, and it is called maturity. At least she has maturity and her allegiance is to the United States of America……..can’t say the same about her opponent. As for the race card, you better do some more checking before accusing her of playing that one….Instead of tearing her apart, you better wake up to the real world and start supporting her if you want to keep the freedoms we have now…..
Posted by: Ron | January 31, 2008, 2:06 pm 2:06 pm