Politicians stump for Hillary Clinton in New Philadelphia

Gov. Ted Strickland, former President Bill Clinton and former Sen. John Glenn show their support for Hillary Clinton. About 1,000 people attended the rally Saturday. Katie Roupe | Daily Kent Stater

Credit: Ron Soltys

Former President Bill Clinton, Gov. Ted Strickland and former Sen. John Glenn rallied at the Tuscarawas campus Friday night because the Clinton campaign wants to reach out to as many Ohio voters as possible, said Luis Vizcaino, a Northeast Ohio representative for her campaign.

“Going to high schools and universities is an important part of the Hillary Clinton campaign,” Vizcaino said.

Cody Pancher, senior criminal justice major who attends classes at both Tuscarawas and Stark campuses, said he thought there were two reasons why the campaign went to the Tuscarawas campus in New Philadelphia.

“They wanted to show that they care about all Americans, not just those in the large urban areas,” he said. “And they wanted to try and pick up the youth vote, as well as the highly educated vote.”

Katy Kreinbihl, sophomore advertising major at the Tuscarawas campus, said she thinks the Clinton campaign came to the Tuscarawas campus because it’s in a rural area.

“People like us really do make a difference,” said Kreinbihl, a resident of Gnadenhutten, a town with a population of about 1,300 people near the Tuscarawas campus.

Kreinbihl said she went to the rally because she was interested in Hillary and wanted to learn about her plans for health care — which was one of Bill’s talking points.

During his speech, Bill asked audience members to raise their hands if they knew someone without health insurance. About 250 people of the 1,000 people in the crowd raised their hand.

Pancher said that he supports Hillary’s health care plan because it allows people to “keep the health insurance you have if you like it.”

Bill also stressed Hillary’s plans for the education and research system.

“A big part of the growth of the young people here will come out of science and research,” he said. “Don’t you want all the kids in this town to learn at a world-class level?”

He added that Hillary would “crack down on the abuses of private student loan companies” and raise the tuition tax credit for students.

“You’ll never have to drop out of school because you’re scared of spending another 10 or 20 thousand dollars,” he said.

Bill also said Hillary, as a member of the Armed Services Committee, has the experience to take care of veterans, especially those of the war in Iraq.

“Hillary is determined to not do what we did in Vietnam, which is confuse the dissatisfaction of an unpopular war with the treatment of veterans,” he said.

Jeff Crowther, a Vietnam veteran who volunteers for the Hillary Clinton campaign and attended the rally, said the veterans of the Iraq war are isolated.

“What vets deal with is, ‘How do I talk to my college peers about what happened over there?'” he said. “Hillary wants to test the veterans for (post-traumatic stress disorder) when they come out.”

Contact College of Business reporter Andrea Sinclair at [email protected].

Regional campuses reporter Julianna Frantz contributed to this story. Contact her at [email protected].