INDIANAPOLIS —
About 4,000 Democrats welcomed former President Bill Clinton to the North Central High School gymnasium Friday for a “Hoosier Common Sense Rally” in support of U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly in his race for U.S. Senate.
Clinton brought his “A” game to thunderous applause and foot-stomping enthusiasm in support of both Donnelly and John Gregg, the Democratic candidate for governor.
“This is what I know,” said Clinton, “Everywhere in the world and everywhere in America that people are doing well, it’s because government and business work together.”
Clinton opened and closed with the belief that, “Cooperation and honorable compromise work better than constant conflict — they just work better.
“This deal that’s being presented to us by the group that now controls the Republican Party doesn’t work very well,” he continued. “Every time they’ve run it out in the last 20 years it hasn’t worked very well, and I frankly resent the fact that it’s called conservative because it’s not. I promise you, the four people on this stage, we are way more fiscally conservative than the people they’ve got running for president, vice president ...”
The applause and cheers briefly drowned out the former president’s words. Clinton stood with former Sen. Evan Bayh, Donnelly and Gregg.
Clinton had tough words for Donnelly’s opponent, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who filed a lawsuit to stop auto industry restructuring that nearly cost thousands of Indiana auto workers their jobs.
Clinton was critical of Gregg’s opponent, U.S. Mike Pence, for not supporting the auto industry, and he challenged Mourdock’s questioning the constitutionality of Social Security and Medicare.
Clinton spent several minutes on the importance of changes made to federal student loans and also questioned Pence and Mourdock for again challenging those changes.
Hoosier Democrats began assembling with free tickets for the 10:30 a.m. start to welcome their fiery former president and state candidates. Also speaking were Indianapolis City-County Councilwoman Maggie Lewis, lieutenant governor candidate Vi Simpson and Congressman Andre Carson. Fifth District congressional candidate Scott Reske led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Clinton’s presence in Indiana is a sign that much might still be undecided here. In a state where splitting tickets is nothing out of the ordinary and solid red turned blue in 2008, the home stretch to election day has begun, and Democrats called for common sense and working to get folks out voting.
Clinton stole the show at the Democratic Party’s national convention and his presence Friday in Indiana was a notable encore. A new Pew Research Center poll found that 29 percent of those surveyed said Clinton’s speech was the highlight of the convention. A Gallup poll released in early September showed Clinton was viewed favorably by 69 percent of Americans, including 43 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of independents.
Speakers Friday challenged those attending to reach out to their neighbors, friends co-workers and others and to take the time to talk with them about how crucial this election and each vote is.
Clinton hammered on Donnelly’s opponent for criticism of U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar for working with the president on national security.
“Do you really think it’s a Republican or Democratic issue whether Osama bin Laden and all the leadership of al-Qaida are gone now or not?” Clinton said. “I thought it was an American issue.”
He also criticized Mourdock’s reluctance to compromise.
“What is this idea that it’s my way or the highway? I was raised to believe that nobody’s right all the time,” said Clinton.
Donnelly met with the media at 9:30 a.m. to preview the Hoosier Common Sense Rally, saying early voting numbers had exceeded 2008 levels and he saw that as a good sign. What he says he also sees as positive and what this election is about are the 5,000 workers heading to their jobs at a transmission plant in Kokomo that he says his opponent didn’t support.
On Thursday, Donnelly’s campaign responded to Mourdock’s effort to label his lawsuit to liquidate Chrysler ending more than 100,000 Hoosier jobs as anything other than a partisan power grab.
“Richard Mourdock has stooped to a new low: lying about the fact that he sued to receive less money for Hoosier police officers and teachers than he would have received in settlement,” said Elizabeth Shappell, Donnelly’s communications director. “Richard Mourdock pursued the lawsuit against
Chrysler to increase his own tea party credentials, not because he had Indiana’s best interests in mind. He spent over $2 million of our taxpayer funds on New York lawyers and a lawsuit that lost at every level to try to kill over 100,000 Hoosier jobs, all the while knowing that it was a financial loser even if he succeeded. The only candidate in this race who stood up The only candidate in this race who stood up for and will continue to fight for Indiana workers is Joe Donnelly.”
State News
Related Photos
-
Former President Bill Clinton speaks at a "Hoosier Common Sense" rally for Indiana Democratic Senate candidate Joe Donnelly, left, and Democratic Indiana gubernatorial candidate John Gregg in Indianapolis on Friday. Michael Conroy
Discussion
Clinton, during Indy visit, calls for cooperation
- State News
-
-
Indiana’s high school grad rate continues upward
Indiana’s reported high school graduation rate continues to improve, moving from 77 percent to more than 88 percent in less than a decade, but there are still significant achievement gaps marked by race and income.
-
Schools chief Ritz on fast learning curve
For many occupants of the Indiana Statehouse, the week after the General Assembly wraps up its final frenzy of work is a quiet one. But not for Glenda Ritz.
-
SLIDESHOW: Governor Otis R. Bowen
Photos from the Indiana State Archives of the late Otis R. Bowen, who served as governor of the state as well as in the Ronald Reagan White House. The Bremen native died Saturday
-
Out of office, Lugar shuns retirement
One year ago, Indiana’s longest serving U.S. senator was rejected by Republican primary voters and forced into an unwelcome retirement from a distinguished political career that spanned 46 years. But at 81, former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar is hardly in a resting mode.
-
Lugar wary of Syria involvement
Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar has been out of office since early January, but he’s still being sought after for his opinion about foreign policy matters he once helped shape.
-
Judge grants class status to lawsuit again BMV
INDIANAPOLIS — As many as 4 million Indiana drivers could become plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has overcharged for driver’s licenses since 2007.
-
Budget deal includes little funding for criminal code reform
Facing the end-of-session deadline, Indiana legislators moved forward on a bill to overhaul the state’s criminal sentencing laws but left undone the issue of where local communities will get the money to implement it.
-
Legislators closing in on final budget
In his first four months as the chief budget maker in the Indiana House, Republican Rep. Tim Brown hasn’t been surprised by the long hours, multiple demands and intense debate that goes with crafting a $30 billion spending plan.
-
New poll shows voters tepid on Pence tax plan
With just days to go before the deadline for a final budget bill, a new independent poll shows Republican Gov. Mike Pence may not have gotten much mileage for his travels around the state pitching his 10 percent tax cut plan.
-
DOC hopes ‘cold case’ cards lead to solved cases
Indiana state prison officials are using customized playing cards for a deadly serious purpose: To help unlock the mysteries of unsolved murders and persons gone missing.
-
Indiana attorney general says Congress must act on immigration reform
Amidst concerns that the Boston Marathon bombing may derail federal action on comprehensive immigration reform, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller is turning up some collective heat on Congress to move ahead.
-
Disagreements stall criminal code reform bill
Negotiations over the final language in a bill that rewrites Indiana’s criminal code may come down to the last week of the legislative session.
-
Budget forecasters predict bigger drop in gaming revenues
While a gaming bill is still in play in the General Assembly, state budget forecasters are predicting the payoff to the state from legalized gambling will be even lower than they thought.
-
Legislature heads into final stretch
The Indiana General Assembly has slogged its way through hundreds of bills since convening in January but in some critical ways, the real work has just begun.
-
Criminal records bill passes Indiana Senate
Legislation that would allow some people with long-ago arrests and convictions in Indiana to wipe clean their criminal record has moved one step closer to the governor’s desk.
-
Court challenge likely for welfare drug-testing bill
Both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly have passed a bill that ties drug testing to welfare benefits, but if signed into law, the next debate may be on the question: Is it constitutional?
-
Push to roll back ban on in-state tuition for immigrants stops short
House Republicans who wanted to roll back a two-year-old ban on in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants have abandoned their plan to expand a Senate bill covering a much smaller group of students.
-
House committee OKs in-state tuition for some undocumented students
The debate over in-state college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants is headed for the Indiana House.
-
Legislators working on funding plan for criminal code rewrite
As legislation that overhauls Indiana’s criminal code moves forward, supporters of the bill are working on finding funding for local communities to implement it.
-
Republican super PAC leader backs immigration reform
As the politics of immigration reform heats up in the Statehouse and Congress, a prominent Republican is ramping up his efforts to rid the influence of what he calls anti-immigrant “extremists” in his party.
-
House considers bill to shorten school day
Legislation that would have freed the state’s high-performing schools from the mandatory 180-day school year has been amended in the House with a provision to shorten the school day instead.
-
House committee debates ban on in-state tuition for immigrant children
Two years after banning the children of undocumented immigrants from paying in-state tuition rates at the state’s public universities, Indiana legislators are debating whether to roll back that prohibition.
-
Pence says Senate GOP plan for 3 percent tax cut not enough
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence appears to be still dug in on his demand for a 10 percent income tax cut, despite a “nod” from Senate Republicans willing to give him a smaller slice of what he wants.
-
Conservative coalition supports rollback of immigrant tuition ban
Supporters of a national coalition of conservative clergy, law enforcement and business leaders are calling on Indiana lawmakers to roll back the state’s ban on in-state college tuition for the children of immigrants who came here illegally.
-
Pence’s 'ERASER' bill appears dead
Legislation pushed by Gov. Mike Pence to eliminate licensing requirements for more than a dozen occupations is apparently dead, killed by a lack of support from both Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly.
-
Bill limiting seclusion and restraint to discipline students moves ahead
Legislation aimed at reducing the use of physical restraints and locked isolation rooms to discipline students continues to gain support in the General Assembly.
-
House committee pushes Pence to negotiate Medicaid expansion
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has insisted he won’t expand what he calls the “broken” Medicaid health insurance program for the poor, but some state legislators are encouraging him to do so, even it’s called by another name.
-
Debate over pot penalties not over in Indiana
The politics of pot may keep Indiana lawmakers from rolling back the state’s tough marijuana laws this session, but it won’t eradicate the push for decriminalization.
-
Gun-rights lawmaker wants tougher gun penalty
One of the chief sponsors of legislation that would rewrite the Indiana criminal code wants to amend the bill to add a mandatory five-year prison sentence for using a gun to commit a felony.
-
DOC says criminal code bill will cause spike in prison numbers
A week after Gov. Mike Pence caught lawmakers by surprise with his opposition to a major criminal code reform bill, the state Department of Correction is projecting the bill will blow up the state’s prison population far beyond what the legislature’s non-partisan research agency says it will.
- More State News Headlines
-
Indiana’s high school grad rate continues upward
Raw: Tornado on the Ground in Oklahoma
Raw: Rescue Workers Search Oklahoma School
Raw: Aftermath of Massive Tornado in Oklahoma
Raw: Walking in a Flattened Okla. Neighborhood
Oklahoma Gov: 'Hearts Are Broken' After Tornado
Huge Tornado Kills Dozens Near Oklahoma City
Raw: Witness Describes Scene After Okla. Tornado
Raw: House Burns After Massive Oklahoma Tornado
Raw: Rescuers Pull Tornado Survivors to Safety
Raw: Suspects Butt Dial 911, Lead to Arrest
Raw: Massive Funnel Clouds in Oklahoma
Split-second Choice Ended With NY Student Dead
White House Backs 'Shield Law' for Media
Voters Could Elect LA's First Female Mayor
Active Search for Utah Missing Mom Ends
Raw: Swarm of Tornadoes Slams Plains
Tornadoes, Storms Strike Midwest
RAW: TV Staff Take Cover From Tornado
Pug Life on Display at Wisconsin Festival
Raw: Widespread Destruction in Moore, Okla.
IWitness Look at Moore, OK Tornado
Trailer: 'The Last Stand' Available on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Digital Download
Pickler's Dance Moves Cause A Stir
Reporter Cries Over Devastation
Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble
Sneak Peek: 'Modern Family' Says Good Bye
RAW: Moore, OK tornado touches down near school
Robert Pattinson Moves Out
RAW: Russian dash cam catches car 20 feet in the air
Oklahoma tornado survivor: "Everything is gone"
Khloe Lashes Out at Kim Kardashian's Critics
Couple Argues As Woman's Lover Crawls Out Window
RAW: Brad Paisley Forgets Lyrics To His Own Song
Justin Bieber Gets Booed
New 'Anchorman 2' Trailer, Drake Joins List of Rumored Cameos
Eva Longoria's Wardrobe Malfunction
Heat Star Dwyane Wade Surprises Coral Gables Teen At Prom
Steak n' Shake waitress scores huge tip
Singer Miguel Accidentally Lands on Fan At Billboard Music Awards
