Clinton Talks Solutions in Seattle

Seattle, WA -

The long walk from my parking space, just down the street from Safeco Field, to the Pier 30 warehouse where New York Senator Hillary Clinton held a rally tonight, was accentuated by a stiff sea breeze, the occasional mud puddle, and a mass of people rushing in from the depths of SoDo hoping to catch a glimpse of the New York Senator and, more importantly, hoping not to be late.

Lucky for them promptness was not much of an issue, as Hillary Clinton showed up and hour and a half late for the event scheduled for 8:00 PM. Inside the air was hot and the atmosphere was lively, with the campaign-estimated crowd of 5,000 clamoring to hear from the former First Lady in a rare Seattle campaign visit. So hot, in fact, that at least two people fainted from the warm, stuffy air inside the building and had to be carried out on stretchers by local rescue workers.

In line with the fevered atmosphere, former Governor Gary Locke and King County Executive Ron Sims took the stage at 9:20 and unleashed an energetic introduction of Hillary Clinton. Locke in particular gave an impassioned preface, frequently disparaging the policies of President Bush, and sounding an increasingly populist tone of demanding aid for middle class families.

Rep. Jay Inslee, one of Clinton's earliest and highest profile supporters here in Washington, came on next. He backed up America's readiness to elect a female President to boisterous cheers from the crowd, and emphasized Hillary's ability to lead on his pet issue of clean energy. Inslee then relayed an observation that every single barfly on the route from Boeing Field to Pier 30 had emptied out of their stool to stand on the sidewalk and wave at Clinton's entourage. A sign, at his word, of true blue collar admiration.

Moments later Hillary took the stage and gave an energetic and substantive stump speech tailored very well to the Washington Democrats on hand.

"Are you ready to pick a President?" she asked the cheering crowd before highlighting Washington's economic, intellectual and environmental leadership on many important issues of the last twenty years.

Clinton cited Inslee's recent book on alternative energy, and gave examples of a handful of local companies whose work is helping America create a green economy.

"We are Americans and there isn't anything we can't do," she said speaking of the goal to become a world leader in energy efficient technology.

Clinton also spent a significant amount of her speech addressing the middle class, often by contrasting the idea to Bush's tax cut on the wealthy.

"We've got to rebuild a strong and prosperous middle class," Clinton demanded. "And as we do that we will face up to the fact that George Bush has put us so deeply in debt that we borrow money from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis."

"We are losing ground," she said speaking of the environmental investments being made by foreign countries like Germany. Competition and American pride, it turns out, was a familiar theme within her speech.

Clinton then brought up health care issues, calling universal health care "the passion of my life."

"Health insurance is a right," she said in an attempt to draw distinctions between her own health care plan and that of Barack Obama.

In fact, it was part of a night-long trend of subtly highlighting what her campaign clearly sees as advantages over her Democratic opponent. Clinton repeatedly mentioned differences in experience and past results, at one point saying somewhat explicitly in regard to her bona fides, "I mention all of this because I'm not asking you to take a leap of faith on me. I'm asking you to join with me to transform the world."

Later she directly mentioned the Illinois Senator in remarking that, "I am disappointed that my opponent, Barack Obama, has given up on Universal Health Care." She immediately followed that statement by comparing his position to that of the Republican Party. "If you believe in universal health care," she continued, "then I am the only candidate on either side to stand up for it and you should come out and support me."

Clinton then moved on to discuss a laundry list of Democratic platform issues like ending No Child Left Behind, reducing the impact of home foreclosures, making college more affordable, improving Veteran hospital treatment and responsibly putting an end to the war in Iraq, stating to wild cheers from the partisan audience that "the era of cowboy diplomacy is over."

"But I can't do this without your help. Washington State is a bellwether state," Clinton closed in a final attempt to remind Evergreen state voters of their importance on the national policy scene.

"If you stand up for me for a couple of hours on Saturday," she said, "I will stand up for you." Clinton continued with that sentence for a few more seconds, but her words were drowned out by deafening cheers until once again her words could be made vaguely audible, and the final ones coming through the loud speakers were, "make history."

With that, the music was once again queued to play Tom Petty's American Girl, and the late night crowd quickly filed out of the warehouse. Whether or not it was a result of Clinton's prodding, these people had work to do in the morning.