Mar 19, 2008 6:30 pm US/Eastern
Bill Campaigns In Pa. For Hillary
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) ―
Stumping through a critical battleground region of Pennsylvania, Bill Clinton said Wednesday that his wife is best equipped to right the nation's troubled economy, end the war in Iraq and beat John McCain in November.
The former president said an impressive win in Pennsylvania would give New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton enough momentum to capture the Democratic nomination over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
"You give her a big victory here, she can be the nominee, and she will be the president if you nominate her," Clinton told an overflow crowd of at least 800 supporters at the Hotel Bethlehem, part of a four-stop swing through the Lehigh Valley and northeastern Pennsylvania.
He planned additional stops in Allentown, Wilkes-Barre and Stroudsburg.
The Lehigh Valley, an area that includes Bethlehem and Allentown, is a swing region in the April 22 primary. Hillary Clinton is expected to do well in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton region, which has a large population of older, blue-collar, culturally conservative voters.
In Bethlehem, Clinton said the nation has returned to "trickle-down economics" under President Bush, which he said has squeezed the middle class and led to rising income inequality.
Contending the nation is in "in a terrible economic fix," Clinton said his wife would call for a 90-day moratorium on mortgage foreclosures and a five-year freeze on mortgage interest rates to help people keep their homes.
He also said she would "stop these ridiculous deficits" that saddle future generations.
"We cannot afford to make a mistake in managing these very serious financial problems," Clinton said.
On Iraq, Clinton said his wife plans to withdraw troops from Iraq "as quickly as we responsibly can," perhaps one or two brigades per month.
Clinton was joined on the dais by Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney, the mayor of Bethlehem and the chief executive of Lehigh County, underscoring the support his wife has garnered from many top Democrats in the state.
The former president carried the message to students and others at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, where he said the New York senator has the economic and national-security credentials to beat McCain in the fall.
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