March 2, 2008
All Eyes On Ohio
"60 Minutes" Reports On The Crucial Primary Race In The Buckeye State
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Play CBS Video Video All Eyes On Ohio Steve Kroft talks to Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and reports from Ohio, whose primary voters next Tuesday could determine which candidate is nominated.
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Video Dems On Middle Class "Only On The Web": Steve Kroft asks Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton about the middle class' quality of life and how they plan to enrich it.
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Video Dems On Jobs "Only On The Web": Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton talk with Steve Kroft about how they plan to reverse the decline of manufacturing in the United States.
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(CBS/AP)
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News Tools Campaign Calendar The latest list of primary and caucus dates as states continue jockeying for position.
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In-Depth 2008 Presidential Hopefuls Profiles and the latest news on the Democrats and Republicans running for the White House.
On Tuesday, Democrats will hold primaries in two big states, Texas and Ohio. The latter has long been a bellwether of American politics, and no one has won the presidency without winning Ohio since John F. Kennedy, nearly 50 years ago.
If Democrats had carried Ohio in the last two elections, they would have won the White House, and Ohio voters will play a large part in determining who the Democratic nominee will be in 2008 and, perhaps, whether Hillary Clinton can keep her candidacy alive.
Correspondent Steve Kroft talked with Sen. Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama as 60 Minutes followed their campaigns in Ohio this past week.
“I know your husband has said and other people have said you've got to win these two states to stay in the race. Do you agree with that?” Kroft asked Sen. Clinton.
“Well, I intend to. I intend to do everything I can to win them. And we're doing well,” Sen. Clinton replied.
“Do you like your chances of winning one of the two big primaries that are next Tuesday?” Kroft asked Sen. Obama.
“I think we've got a good shot,” the senator from Illinois replied.
There’s no better place to find out than Ohio: it’s the heartland of America, one of the big states in the middle of the country that has always grown the food and made the things that America needs - from auto parts to soap and shampoo to hamburgers.
It stretches from the Great Lakes to the Ohio River, from Appalachia to the plains of the Middle West. If Ohio were a country it would have the 25th largest economy in the world, just behind the Netherlands. But today it reflects the problems and the challenges facing the United States and its middle class in a world that is rapidly changing.
From Youngstown and Cleveland to Akron and Dayton, Obama and Clinton have crisscrossed a state that could put one of them in the White House. In the eight years that George Bush has been president, Ohio has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs and the state’s median income has fallen by nearly ten percent.
It’s being felt in the small cities that dot the Ohio landscape and could very well decide the primary. It’s places like Chillicothe, a town of 22,000 people an hour south of Columbus.
Chillicothe is a political microcosm of the state of Ohio: in the past two presidential elections, the voting patterns here have been virtually identical to the statewide results. George Bush and John Kerry campaigned for president here; so did Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Harry Truman, and Teddy Roosevelt.
One reason may be that the politics here are unpredictable. Chillicothe has more independents than Republicans and Democrats combined. And all of them are eligible to vote on Tuesday.
Steve Madru, the Democratic chairman of Ross County, thinks the town is not only a mirror of Ohio, but the whole country.
Every evening he turns his real estate office in Chillicothe into the campaign headquarters for Senator Clinton.
“My sense of it is that a lot of the party establishment, a lot of the party machinery, is behind Hillary?” Kroft asked.
“Yes, pretty much,” Madru agreed. “I think it's, you know, Ted Strickland, our governor, is behind Hillary. And he's done such a great job in Ohio. And he's friends with the Clintons. And a lot of us kind of follow along with the governor.”
A month ago that organizational support had given Sen. Clinton a 20-point lead in Ohio polls, but much of it has evaporated with 11 straight defeats and the rise of a dedicated corps of Obama supporters who have been canvassing neighborhoods and taking their own informal street corner surveys by gauging how many people honk at their campaign signs.
“You assume that people honking are people that like you?” Kroft asked campaigner Chris Cooper.
“Well, when they give you a thumbs up, they like you. When they give you the finger it's a thumbs down. So, I'm pretty sure those are international symbols,” Cooper replied.
Produced by L. Franklin Devine, Michael Radutzky and Tanya Simon
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 538 CommentsNot only did you make certain Obama had ample opportunity
to refute the rumors circulating about him; you pointedly pushed
Sr. Clinton into confirming their absurdity.
Did you offer even a token of consideration to Sr. Clinton for the
vicious rumors being circulated about her?
We hold Sixty Minutes to higher standards. Shame on you for
lowering the bar!
Edith Harrop
Wow - aren''t these the folks that react most to negative - fear mongering tactics. Way to go Hillary, those that can''t think for themselves are on your side. What an accomplishment
%u201COf course not. I mean, that, you know, there is no basis for that. I take him on the basis of what he says. And, you know, there isn''t any reason to doubt that.%u201D
%u201CNo. No, there is nothing to base that on. As far as I know.%u201D
And then he ought to release every picture taken of Bill on the road standing next to a female . . . see whether Hillary still feels like she ''rejected'' and ''denounced'' the muslim rumors to the extent that was warranted . . .
First...it''s a lie%u2026mathematically impossible...do the numbers yourself.
Second, Barack fails to mention that he makes 52 times the ordinary American. 52 TIMES!!!
Third...what''s his point? What? ...we should create a government agency to determine and enforce the acceptable level of wages for every occupation? Obama, what should basketball players make...rock bands...movie stars? People...it''s called supply and demand.
Rather than using the most educated and successful people in our society as an example of what American''s can achieve, he chooses to vilify them. Instead he chooses to utilize class warfare as his rally cry.
So you still think he%u2019s going to unite us? Of course you do.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". This timeless quote lost in the minutiae of entitlement.
I was raised in a lower middle income blue collar family...I%u2019m now retired at a very young age...all because I took it upon myself to seize the abundant opportunities that we have in this country for those that want to dedicate themselves to realizing the American dream. Each and everyday American%u2019s make dumb choices and then expect the rest of us to pay for your mistakes. Which explains why you would vote for Obama. His policies essentially will protect you from yourself and ensure that the productive members of society bail out the victims.
Ah%u2026 but those evil companies with their evil executives making all that money%u2026they just can%u2019t wait to layoff the next American worker. (Obama makes 52 times the ordinary American%u2026he%u2019s one of them you know).
Take a basic global economics class%u2026this is just the beginning of a very bad stretch for American workers that choose to whine rather than adapt. The ones that have invested time and energy in educating themselves may be OK as long as they are willing to work with the energy and vigor of our overseas competitors. Those American%u2019s not up to the challenge will continue to drag this country down%u2026just like a chain that%u2019s only as strong as its weakest link.
Have you read the posts related to the 60 min healthcare story (RAM)? One American after another%u2026I want free healthcare%u2026we are the wealthiest country in the world, why aren%u2019t you successful people paying all of my bills? I can%u2019t pay my $500 deductable%u2026I%u2019d have to give up my cable TV and cell phone. Seventy years ago an American would have preferred to die rather than let someone else pay his bills. Not today%u2026not with the entitlement culture. We%u2019re screwed!
Posted by miles1967 at 10:48 PM : Mar 03, 2008
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thanks for your effort to bring change!!!please do mobalise more people, its the only way out of the clinton mess.
OBAMA 08!!!!
just imagine the whole world watching some erratic woman waving papers and going after her oponnet in the most uncivil way- i deserve better
OBAMA 08!!!!
Present votes are usued by legislators to keep flawed legislation from passing until the flaws can be worked out of it.
If you support No Child Left Behind, for example, but you want to remove an amendment which gives $20 million to a Madrassas, you don''t vote the whole bill down and you don''t pass it as is. You votr present and make the sponsers come to you seeking your vote so you can ask them to amend the bill.
BILL CLINTON LIED UNDER OATH OF THE SAME GOV THAT SHE IS REPRESENTING,YET HILLARY STOOD BY HIM CONSIDERING POWER FIRST BEFORE WHAT IS RIGHT
Posted by kstar42
Well, if you have a problem with Obama, maybe you should leave the country!!! The U.S. Senator from Illinois would be missed if he left, but no one would care if you left!!!
Posted by dumbshun
Its simple, the guys that are responsible for 9/11 are in Afghanistan and Pakistan, not Iraq. Why do we continue to give billions to Pakistan and not get the kind of cooperation need to catch or kill Bin Laden and prevent AlQaeda from setting up safe havens there? The Bush Administration has been much too soft with the Pakistani government....
Posted by ahjosephson at 10:07 PM : Mar 03, 2008
We have a man running for president and we american people have every right to no every thing about him!
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