Wearing Brown, Clinton Goes Green in Oregon
HILLSBORO, OR. -- During her first visit to Oregon as a presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton switched from her economic focus of the past few weeks to highlight an issue dear to many Oregonians: cleaning up the environment. But Clinton's proposals on fixing the environment were interwoven with veiled jabs at Barack Obama, taking him to task for voting in favor of the Bush administration's energy bill in 2005.
"In 2005, Dick Cheney," Clinton said as she was interrupted by boos from the audience, to which she said, "You're a great audience, that's the perfect response."
"Dick Cheney essentially pulled together his energy buddies and wrote and energy bill. That energy bill gave millions of more in subsidies to oil companies," Clinton said. "I believe this is a clear difference in this campaign between me and my opponent. Because you can talk about going after the oil companies, you can talk about these power grabs by the federal government or you can act. I acted, I voted no!"
Clinton, dressed in a dark brown pantsuit, addressed a crowd of nearly 3,000 at a local high school and continues to go after those in her own party who have suggested that she drop out of the race, primarily due to the fear that a prolonged contest will hurt the eventual Democratic nominee's chances of winning in November.
Clinton said the race is "neck-and-neck" and that ending it before the final 10 contests are complete will shortchange voters. "It would be like saying we've got two minutes to go on the clock, 'let's quit.' Well, one thing I hope you know about me is that I don't quit," Clinton said to loud cheers from the crowd.
"I believe this is a special moment, not just in the history of the Democratic Party but in our country. There are 10 contests left, and those who wanted to end this election which is so close," Clinton said holding her thumb and index fingers together, "it's historically close, closer than we have seen in decades and decades."
Clinton has one more stop in Oregon before heading to Montana, a state who's primary is on June 3.
Meantime, Clinton has delivered hundreds of speeches throughout the campaign and oftentimes will include stories she has heard from voters about their personal problems with either the economy or healthcare as a way of "putting a face" on the issues facing Americans.
Since late February, Clinton has told the story of a young Ohio woman who worked at a pizza parlor who became pregnant, had no health insurance or enough money to be seen by a local hospital. Complications in her pregnancy led to her eventual death. Clinton points out that the woman's lack of $100 in order to be seen by the hospital led to thousands of dollars spent trying to save her life when it was too late.
The New York Times today reported that the story Clinton has been telling voters, may have some holes in it. The Times' report found that the woman was not turned away by the hospital and, according to the hospital, did have health insurance. Some are hoping to use the story as a way of discrediting Clinton, but in fairness, Clinton was told the story second-hand from a deputy police sheriff during a campaign event in southeastern Ohio. The sheriff told the New York Times that he was relaying the story as he was told it.
"She (Clinton) tells the story as it was told to her by the deputy sheriff," Clinton campaign senior spokesman Mo Elleithee said in an e-mail to CBS News. "She had no reason to doubt his word. If the hospital claims it didn't happen that way, we certainly respect that and she won't repeat the story. She never mentions the hospital by name and isn't trying to cast blame."
"Candidates are told stories by people all the time, and it's common for candidates to retell those stories. It's not always possible to fully vet
them, but we try."
Clinton's storytelling has recently been under scrutiny when CBS News video surfaced of a trip Clinton took to Bosnia as First Lady that did not mesh with her accounts.