Charlotte Observer - Clinton Stresses Readiness to Lead

News Article

Charlotte Observer - Clinton Stresses Readiness to Lead
Trailing candidate outlines ideas as Dems worry about divisions

On the day her campaign announced an endorsement from N.C. Gov. Mike Easley, Sen. Hillary Clinton told voters in Charlotte to treat Tuesday's primary as a hiring decision.

"Think about it as if you're hiring a surgeon to perform an operation on a loved one," she told more than 4,000 supporters at Time Warner Cable Arena. "Hire somebody who is prepared on Day 1."

Clinton laced her 45-minute speech with policy initiatives on everything from health care to gas prices to ending the Iraq war. Earlier in Concord, where 300 supporters braved a downpour outside Troutman's Bar-B-Q, she promised to create jobs for an area devastated by the loss of textile employment.

Trailing by double digits in most state polls, Clinton got a star's welcome to the uptown Charlotte arena. Greeted by Bobcats owner Bob Johnson, she entered to a darkened arena with spotlights dancing over a crowd cheering and waving signs.

But her visit came as many Democrats worry that the prolonged and increasingly bitter primary battle between Clinton and Barack Obama could hurt the party in November. Interviews with several supporters reflected what many polls have found: If she loses the nomination, they may not vote for Obama.

Clinton didn't mention Obama by name. Instead she continued to cast herself as the only candidate ready to lead at home and abroad.

"We need a president with the strength and experience to get into the Oval Office on Day 1 and turn this country around," she said to thunderous applause.

A recent Observer-WCNC poll found that North Carolinians rated Clinton and Obama about the same in readiness to act as president.

She praised the booming economy and budget surplus that marked her husband's administration. She pledged to create jobs "you can't export" in the so-called green economy and threatened to "take tax breaks away from any company that moves jobs out of North Carolina."

Mike Curtis, a Concord Democrat, likes Clinton's experience and her interest in affordable health care. He said he voted for George W. Bush twice.

But there are signs that lines in the primary are hardening.

The Observer-WCNC poll this month found 20 percent of Clinton's N.C. supporters would vote for presumptive GOP nominee John McCain if Obama won the nomination. Thirteen percent of Obama supporters said they'd vote for McCain if Clinton won the nomination.

"I just feel more comfortable with Hillary Clinton," said Eric Vollmer, 32, an IT specialist at the uptown event who said he'd "stay home" if Obama wins. "I feel like she's got my best interests in mind. I don't know that I could say the same about Obama."

Mike Mosher, 44, a Charlotte auto technician, said he's bothered by Obama's comments about small-town Americans "clinging" to their guns and Bibles.

"I don't own either one," he said. "(But) I found it offensive."

"What we've seen is there is a degree to which people are really digging in behind their preferred candidate," said Adolphus Belk Jr., a political scientist at Winthrop University. "That means that the party is going to have to do something to unite around the nominee once this process is finished."

Analyst Charlie Cook said he doesn't expect all hard feelings to last.

"My hunch is that Clinton's supporters would be upset with an Obama nomination for a few weeks but would eventually get over it," he said. "I am not sure that's the case in the highly unlikely event of Clinton beating out Obama. Among the younger, newer voters and in the African American community, I'm not sure all of them would get over it."

Ferrel Guillory, a political analyst at UNC Chapel Hill, said it "depends on how the loser handles the (national) convention."

"There is some built-in time for healing," he said, "and then the convention itself will ... signify to what extent healing will take place."

Source