For those of you who weren't lucky enough to be in the northern part of the state today for Dyngus Day fun, the South Bend Tribune offers a glimpse at the Bill Clinton experience:
He was joined on stage by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, who spoke here in 1968 while he was campaigning for president.
Clinton spoke especially of the need to change the health care system in the United States.
When he asked the crowd how many knew someone without health care, nearly everyone raised a hand.
"This is the only wealthy country on Earth where people would ask that question during an election," Clinton said.
In his support for Obama, Roemer cited his opposition when in Congress to NAFTA, the trade agreement widely criticized for leading to manufacturing jobs being shipped overseas.
"This was a tough choice for me. I worked with the Clintons throughout the 1990s and I really have a great deal respect for Sen. Clinton and President Clinton," Roemer said, adding that he support Obama because he is the candidate who can "bring big change" to Washington.
TDW was in attendance, so I'd keep an eye over there for some on-the-ground perspective.
This morning's South Bend Tribune features a rather lengthy look back at one of the last times that the region's Dyngus Day celebrations were the focal point of a contentious presidential primary battle. With Bill Clinton and company in town today, and Barack Obama's surrogates bouncing around as well, many are turning an eye toward the past, drawing parallels between this year's race and the 1968 battle which brought Bobby Kennedy rolling through the state.
David Parker, an assistant professor of political science at IUSB, said he feels voters view Obama as the more liberal and anti-war candidate like Kennedy. Humphrey and Clinton are similar because they "hemmed and hawed" over the issue for a while, with Clinton voting for the war and now stepping back to oppose it. Humphrey didn't actually come out and say he supported the war until after he secured the party's nomination, Parker said.
Arnold said what will be interesting to watch is what the likely GOP candidate, Sen. John McCain, says about how he will change Iraq war policy. Richard Nixon had an elusive "I have a plan to end the war" approach while campaigning, Arnold said, and so far McCain has embraced it on the campaign trail.
Race was a major issue in '68, and although it's not the biggest issue in this election, it has emerged in a different form, Parker said.
"It's still an issue that underlies black and white voters," he said.
I know that this is way off the reservation, but I also wanted to throw up this video, which of all things had the Obama campaign praising Chris Wallace the other day. I know that some on the right in this state were twittering away after their talk radio overlords gave the marching orders over Obama's referral to his mother as a "typical white person" in his frank discussion of race. Check it out:
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