ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL — Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton signs autographs for supporters following a campaign speech and question-and-answer session Wednesday afternoon at Capital High School in Charleston. View additional photos at www.theintermountain.com


Before a crowd of hundreds at Capitol High School on Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton drew a large applause during a question-and-answer session when she responded with a plan to bring troops home. The presidential hopeful also traveled to American Legion Post 16 in Huntington and addressed health care, rising gasoline prices and the current administration.

Clinton was introduced by Gov. Joe Manchin who emphasized the important role West Virginia will play in the primary election.

“What an exciting time this is for the state of West Virginia,” Manchin said while introducing Clinton. “History is being made for many reasons for West Virginia. It has not been since 1960 that we had this much excitement and this much say into who the next president of the United States is going to be.”

Clinton agreed with Manchin and said, “This primary coming up in West Virginia could not be more important. It is really going to put West Virginia on the map of the world and all of the issues important to West Virginia are going to have to be debated.”

Clinton thanked Manchin and his wife, Gayle, for being there with her and the great leadership they provide in the state. Clinton also thanked the Capitol High School band and choir for performing the national anthem.

Clinton began the town hall-style meeting with a short speech detailing her experience as a senator representing New York and working with her husband, Bill Clinton, in Arkansas when he was governor.

“I have been passionately committed to making sure that finally America would provide quality, affordable health care for every single American,” Clinton said. “I know how committed West Virginia is to being part of America’s energy future and that means we must make investments in clean coal technology.”

She said education is the path to opportunity, stressed a need for more pre-kindergarten programs and an “end the unfounded mandate known as ‘No Child Left Behind.’”

“We are shutting the door to college to many middle and working class families,” Clinton said. “I think we need to invest in America’s young people.”

Clinton said the leadership in America is lacking and one of the first things that needs to be looked at is the war in Iraq.

“We have to restore America’s leadership,” Clinton said. “That starts with ending the war in Iraq and bringing our troops home. As we bring our sons and daughters home, we need to take care of our veterans. We are not doing enough to provide health care, compensation and services.”

Under Clinton’s plan, troops would begin coming home within 60 days if she is elected..

“The Iraqis have not done what they needed to do to secure their future,” Clinton said. “We are going to start bringing the troops home and tell them (Iraqis) that the ball is in their court. We will help them but so far they have not done much.

“The best way to get the Iraqis to step up is tell them that we are leaving and their blank check is over,” Clinton said.

Clinton also touched on the condition of the economy.

“None of what we want to do will be possible unless we get the economy working for everybody again,” Clinton said. “Unless we pay as much attention to Main Street as to Wall Street, we are never going to fix what is wrong in the economy.”

Clinton then opened the floor to questions and was asked about rising gasoline prices.

“A lot of people are predicting that gas prices are on there way to $4 a gallon,” Clinton said. “That is going to be a problem for those who drive to work.”

Clinton said there needs to be an investigation to determine what is going on with gas prices and whether the oil companies are manipulating the market or if there is price gouging. She said the federal government is buying oil at high prices for the strategic petroleum reserve.

“The federal government is buying oil at these ridiculously high prices,” Clinton said. “It is 97 percent full. First, I would stop buying it, and second, I would release some of it into the market to drive down the prices.”

She said the third step would to become less dependent on foreign oil.

“It is heartbreaking to me that we are now more dependent on foreign oil today then when we were on 9/11,” Clinton said. “If anything should have been a wake up call, it should have been 9/11. Most of those hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.”

She said when George Bush became president, oil was $20 a barrel; the cost now is $112 a barrel and continues to rise.

“The only way we can stand up to them and take back control of our energy destiny is by saying once and for all we are going to move toward energy independence.”

She said the federal government needs to help car companies and workers to put more fuel-efficient cars on the road.

“We have to do a fast accelerated research effort for blended fuels,” she said.

She cited Brazil’s move to flex-fuel cars that use ethanol made from sugar cane to help the country gain energy independence.

“As president you will not see me holding hands with the Saudis,” Clinton said. “You will see me holding the Saudis accountable for getting us on a better track toward energy independence.”

Clinton was also asked about medical costs and medical records when a potential voter talked about a former universal health care bill

Before highlighting her plans for universal health care, Clinton told a story about a pregnant girl who could not afford a doctor. Because the woman lacked medical care, the baby died. The mother then spent 15 days in intensive care before passing away.

“It is morally wrong that in the USA a young woman and her baby would die because they did not have health insurance,” Clinton said. “It is also wrong that we would end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to save her life when, if she had gotten that examination, maybe both lives could have been saved.”

Clinton said her plan to provide health care for Americans includes more than 200 options from which individuals can choose.

“If you have health insurance and you are happy you can keep it,” Clinton said. “If you don’t have insurance then we are going to open up the congressional plan to individuals. It is much less expensive and there are 219 plans.”

She said the government would also provide tax subsidies to help pay for the heath care.

“If everybody is insured we will actually end up saving money,” Clinton said. “Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars we will spend the $100 and we will be able to do what is necessary to provide preventive health care.”

Another question asked of Clinton was what she would do to prevent jobs from going overseas. She said the government has to cut tax breaks for companies that move jobs from the United States to other countries. She also said the country needs trade agreements that are enforced.

“I am tired of someone getting away with breaking our trade agreements,” Clinton said. “Foreign companies are dropping their steel into our market. We can compete with anyone, but we cannot compete when one hand is tied behind our back. We have got to get tough on American companies that go overseas and cut corners.”

Clinton said the United States also needs to invest in clean energy jobs to help create new jobs across the country.

“We need to have the same commitment we had to the Apollo program,” Clinton said. “We can create at least 5 million new jobs in 10 years.”

Clinton said the country needs to end Bush’s war because it would help create many more jobs.

A recent college graduate asked Clinton what she planned to do to help with employment and the debt accrued from college.

“We have to make college affordable,” Clinton said. “I think we should forgive your debt if you go into public service. We have to get the economy going again to ensure there are jobs.”

In closing her time at Capitol High School, she told the crowd, “It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush. It will take a Clinton to clean up after the second Bush.”

In her second visit Wednesday with voters she spoke at American Legion Post No. 16 in Huntington. Brigadier Gen. Jack Yeager, former commander of the West Virginia Air National Guard, introduced Clinton.

“We are about to elect a president to lead us out of this darkness,” Yeager said. “She can put together a team of people to lead us out of this mess we are in.”

Yeager said Clinton has pledged to reach back and take care of Vietnam veterans.

She told those in attendance about her plan to bring troops home within 60 days after taking office.

“I will make it a very high priority to provide support for our troops,” Clinton said. “We will see the end on the Bush administration, thankfully, in less than a year. We have to change ideas and systems.

“I believe that if we do not keep faith with our veterans, we are not keeping faith with our flag or our nation.”

Clinton also spoke about the lack of Veterans hospitals in rural areas saying the government needs to provide more access to health care.

“We have got to have a seamless system,” Clinton said. “A lot of times people do not know what happened to our veterans because of lost records. We have to look hard at what works, then provide the services.”

She said she has experienced trouble when trying to help war veterans get the treatment they need.

“It is a shame when you have to fight your own government to treat those who served the government,” Clinton said.

Clinton said she wants to put more money into medical research particularly for one of the problems facing younger veterans — posttraumatic stress disorder.

“I do not think we know the causes of PTSD,” Clinton said. “We are not treating a lot of our veterans. Exposure to explosives shakes the brain. I think we are going to find a lot of links that we are missing.

“We could cure and prevent a lot. I am going to be committed to funding health research.”

Clinton also said the federal government needs to get back to being a partner with state and local agencies.

“We need to rebuild America. I want to start a bonding program to put money in local hands to develop fresh water projects and infrastructure programs.”

Clinton ended her time at the American Legion post with a standing ovation. Clinton spent time after her speeches at both venues signing autographs and meeting with those in attendance.