Missoula News

a town hall meeting

Hillary Clinton Sits Down with Missoulians

By Dillon Tabish, 4-06-08

Photos by Emily Haas. Click here or on the photo above to see more photos from the Clinton event.

Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton told voters in Missoula this morning that the genius of America needs to be unleashed and the war in Iraq needs to end.

“It’s great to be in Big Sky country,” she told the roughly 1,800 people who turned out for the “Town Hall” meeting at the Neptune hangar at Missoula International Airport. “I’m pretty pleased that Montana will have the last say in declaring who will be the next president of the United States.”

Cindy Wilcox, a retired elementary school teacher, clapped and stood on her tip-toes as Clinton walked to the stage in her red high heels.

“I didn’t realize it would be this emotional,” she said bashfully, wiping a tear from her eye.

“I really appreciate the fact that [Clinton] and her husband brought attention to children’s issues,” said Wilcox, who has generations of teachers in her family. “Education seems to be on the backburner for those other two candidates, but Clinton really seems to care about it.”

“I don’t know how you can be a teacher and not be a Democrat,” she added.

Although Wilcox likes Clinton’s opponent Sen. Barack Obama, she says Clinton’s background and wealth of information make her the best candidate to lead the Democratic Party to an important victory in November.

After the previous night’s Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner in Butte and this morning’s private-donor breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula, Clinton was introduced by state Senate Majority Leader Carol Williams and Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtis. The three women illustrated and reflected on Montana’s distinct progressive history in women’s rights, notably electing the first woman, Jeannette Rankin, to Congress.

“Montana was ahead of the curve and let women vote first,” Clinton said.

Clinton’s town hall-type gathering and Sen. Barack Obama’s arena rally Saturday were drastically different events, and by design. For most of the event Clinton asked the crowd to sit and she fielded questions from the audience after her hour-long speech. But at the mention of withdrawing troops from Iraq, clean energy, new jobs, and the current Bush administration leaving office, the crowd came to its feet cheering.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush and it’s gonna take a Clinton to clean up after the second,” she said. “I’m offering myself as a fighter for America, because I think America is worth fighting for.”

Clinton emphasized a few points she made the night before, including producing electricity from renewable resources like clean coal, wind and solar powering. She said the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind must end and that she’s tired of America being outmaneuvered by trade partners like China.

Americans can solve these problems just as they did when it came to reaching outer space in the ‘60s, she said.

Clinton encouraged giving middle class Americans tax breaks, “like when my husband was President.”

During the campaign people have criticized the 1990s, she said. “Which part of the ‘90s didn’t they like, the peace or the prosperity?”

Clinton also talked about helping students pay for a higher education: “Students can’t afford to start, continue or complete their education,” she said, adding, “It used to be that you invested in young people.”

One way of doing that would be to eliminate FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), a complex form students must fill out in order to receive financial aid, she said. Her staff tried calculating how long Americans spend working on [FAFSA] and it was close to “hundreds of millions of hours.”

Clinton said students would be able to determine their eligibility for grants and other federal aid when filling out taxes. For those with debt, she said they can pay it off with public service.

In a more somber part of her talk, Clinton said the war in Iraq must come to an end.

“Our men and women in uniform did everything they were asked to do,” she said, using the removal of Saddam Hussein from power and the establishment of democratic elections in Iraq as examples.

Clinton said the Iraqi people have been given the gift of freedom and it’s now up to them to do with it what they will.

“That’s why it’s time to bring out sons and daughters home,” she said.

And taking care of veterans once they return home is just as important, she added.

Nearly two hours before Clinton’s scheduled appearance, the seats surrounding the small, square stage were already filled. While some people read books to stay occupied, others did homework.

Taylor Cook, 26, clutching a clipboard and some flashcards, took time away from studying for next week’s economics exam to see Clinton in person.

“I want to enjoy it while I can, I don’t think we’ll see another Democratic candidate in Montana for awhile,” she said.

Even though Obama seems like a good candidate, Cook said Clinton’s experience and stance on universal health care won her over in the end.

“She has a devoted track record,” Cook said.

Clinton volunteer Jill Vickers joined the campaign just three days earlier after a friend mentioned the campaign was making a stop in Missoula. The opportunity was just too good to pass up, she said.

“[Clinton] has definite responses to the problems she sees in our country,” Vickers said. “And she has good Montana knowledge and talks about the issues that really affect Montanans.”

Before taking off from Missoula, Clinton said, “I’ve been here many times before and it’s never enough.”

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