Touts ‘Conservative Progressivism’ as way for Democrats
By Meliqueica Meadows
Of The St. Louis American
Saturday’s rally at the Pageant and $2,100 per plate fundraiser at the Chase Park Plaza gave state Auditor Claire McCaskill a boost in her campaign to oust incumbent U.S. Sen. Jim Talent on the November 7 ballot.
More than 1,800 people packed into the Pageant early Saturday for a chance to catch a glimpse of the 42nd President of the United States. He did not disappoint. Without notes but plenty of one-liners sprinkled amidst keen political observations, Clinton held the crowd in his hands for the entire 40-minute speech, punctuated with cheers and even tears from the crowd.
Clinton said McCaskill would be a “proud successor to Harry Truman in the U.S. Senate.”
He focused his remarks on the future of the Democratic Party. Clinton said the party is poised to become both the liberal and the conservative party in American politics, given that the current Republican Party has been hijacked by a small band of right-wing evangelical zealots.
“They believe government should be run for the special interests,” Clinton said. “There are twice as many registered lobbyists in D.C. than the day I left office.”
“We believe in empowering people to live good, middle-class lives,” he said. “If we made a serious commitment to a clean energy source, we would create millions of jobs and raise wages.”
Clinton also criticized the current administration’s cuts to federal financial aid: “Millionaires like me got our tax credit like clockwork, but you got to cut college aid because we can’t afford it? Give me a break!”
He said the most common question he has been asked since leaving office is what kind of economic plan he brought to Washington to balance the budget and operate on a surplus for three consecutive years.
He answered, “Arithmetic.”
“I had a good public school education in Hot Springs, Ark.,” he said. “And I figure if two and two is four in Hot Springs, then it’s four in St. Louis and then its probably still four in Washington.”
McCaskill is in favor of increasing Pell Grants from $4,050 to $5,800 and doubling the HOPE Scholarship tax credit from $1,500 to $3,000 per student.
McCaskill spoke briefly to the crowd at the Pageant, but did not touch on her own campaign. Instead she let others speak on her behalf.
“She’s as tough as a diamond,” Roger Wilson, chair of the Missouri Democratic Party, said of McCaskill.
“She believes in education, health care, senior services and stem cell research,” St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley said.
Wilson and Dooley were joined by other elected officials, including Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Attorney General Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon, state Sen. Maida Coleman, state Rep. John Bowman and U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan. Congressmen Wm. Lacy Clay and Emanuel Cleaver were absent because of a previous engagement with the Congressional Black Caucus.
Clinton said he hoped Missouri voters would turn the state from red to blue come November.
“(I hope) you’ll say I live in the Show Me State and I’ve been shown about all I can take,” he said. “It’s time for a change.”
Brunch for bucks
While supporters cheered and reveled in the nostalgia of the Clinton era of peace, economic surplus and a burgeoning middle class, another group of supporters – about 600 strong – gathered at the Chase Park Plaza for a $2,100 per plate fundraiser brunch.
After his rousing 40-minute speech, Clinton was rushed to the Chase for the brunch, which raised more than $1 million for McCaskill’s campaign.
“Claire will win this race if she has enough money to compete and they don’t bury her with advertising,” Clinton said at the brunch. “She needs people out there talking plain English about what’s happened and what’s at stake.”
“In the next two months all of us have to continue to do what you’re doing today to support Claire – the decent, honest person we need to send to the U.S. Senate,” Dick Gephart said.
“This race is not over,” he added. “I think this is going to be a huge election. I think we can take the House and the Senate back.”
Clinton said Democrats and truly compassionate conservatives are facing “the moral attack against those that support stem cell research.”
One of Clinton’s last accomplishments was a major push for the completion of sequencing the human genome in 2000. The process was completed in 2003. The Human Genome Project was a 13-year undertaking coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The purpose was to identify all of the genes in human DNA and to store the information in a database that could be used for research.
“Nobody’s talking about fertilizing eggs,” Clinton said of stem cell research. He said supporters are not trying to “create the stem cell equivalent to a catfish farm.”
McCaskill has been a vocal advocate of stem cell research and is in favor of the Missouri Stem Cell ballot initiative.
“We should be promoting hope for people suffering with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, ALS, spinal cord injuries and other debilitating diseases,” McCaskill said.
“This initiative enables Missouri doctors and researchers to be at the forefront of lifesaving research, and it has my support.”
Clinton’s presence in St. Louis represented “a brighter future” for the Democratic Party, Florissant resident Kaye Thornton said following the fundraising brunch.
“I saw a lady inside with a sticker that said, ‘I Miss Bill,’ and so do I,” supporter Elaine Johnson said. “We’re going backwards with this economy.”
“It’s time for us as Democrats and as Americans to come together as one and not let people divide us,” Fred Johnson said.
“Raising minimum wage and a middle-class tax break – we need that for all Americans,” Elaine Johnson said. “Middle-class people are becoming poor people. We’ve got to turn that around.”
McCaskill supports renewable energy and alternative fuels as well as raising the minimum wage.
“We must increase the minimum wage,” McCaskill said.
“Too many Missourians are working too hard at too many jobs just to scrape by. I strongly support rewarding their hard work. It’s immoral for full-time workers in America to live in poverty.”
