In Erie, Clinton criticizes Trump and formulates Harris’ economic plan

Former President Bill Clinton left the makeshift stage in the Lavery Brewing Co. “bunker.” in downtown Erie on Saturday to Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow,” the theme song of his 1992 re-election campaign, before working a small rope line with U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.

Clinton, 78, posed for selfies, signed autographs and spent a minute chatting with a young girl in the crowd as her fellow baby boomers reached out to shake the 42nd president’s hand.

With three days remaining in a long and contentious presidential election, Clinton tried to get Vice President Kamala Harris to do the same thing that voters here gave him in 1992 and again in 1996: Victory in Erie County, which emerged as a major leader in a critical battleground state..

“My Rally”

Since the former Arkansas governor’s first presidential campaign 32 years ago, Erie County has voted in line with the rest of Pennsylvania voters, including in 2016, when the county and state favored Harris’ opponent, former President Donald Trump.

“This is my kind of rally,” Clinton joked after being introduced by Union City dairy farmer Dan Gourley. “We represent small businesses and family farmers.”

Clinton, in his slower, Southern style, wove a folk story about talking to dairy farmers in North Arkansas during his first political campaign 50 years ago into an assessment of the character of a man he said he knew for 15 years.

“I had these guys carefully explain to me how they were able to take vacations as a family, and they all essentially scheduled vacations on rotation so they could cover for each other and feed the cows,” Clinton said. “Donald Trump’s theory is that this will be a great opportunity to convince you that your neighbor is imposing his words on you. Isn’t that right?

“I’m attaching this to you”

Clinton cited conversations he had in recent days with voters in rural southern Georgia and rural eastern North Carolina that were “straightforward” and acknowledged he agreed with Trump’s line that the race was “rigged.” for Harris due to President Joe Biden’s mid-race withdrawal. -July. Harris, according to Clinton, had nothing to do with this.

“She was the only reasonable person who could do this,” Clinton said. “And she has shown tremendous growth as vice president and as a presidential candidate. I know a little about this.

“I’m familiar with this job and don’t forget it’s a job,” Clinton continued. “So how you define the position almost determines who you vote for. And I know both candidates: I had a warm relationship with Donald Trump for over 15 years until I heard him one day. Even when he was running against Hillary (in 2016). We didn’t quarrel until I heard him call Mexicans rapists and robbers. And I knew how many Latino caddies he had, and I knew who made him look good to his golf club customers. And I went home and we chose. pulled my clubs out of his putter, I didn’t come back.”

Clinton called Trump “a genius for bragging and blaming and making you feel like someone is pushing it on you” and said the 45th president will take charge if the sun is shining and if it rains for two days , will tell people it won’t happen. if he were president.

Trump, Clinton said, learned from his father’s business consultant, Roy Cohn, to blame everyone else, “never take responsibility, deny everything, and always blame other people for what you do.”

Trump has caused so much outrage in the country, and, Clinton added, “he can win the election if you scare people to death, but the presidency is a job. You get up and go to work every day.”

“And look, I’m not running for anything. I’m almost the same age as him,” Clinton said as the crowd erupted in laughter.

“I love saying that,” he added, causing more laughter. “But I am running for the future of my grandchildren. That’s why I’m here.”

“Until the Cows Come Home”

Clinton, whose presidency was marked by a booming economy and a sex scandal that led to his impeachment, then turned to the economy, contrasting what Harris plans to do if elected to fight inflation with Trump’s plan for tariffs and tax cuts.

While the vice president’s campaign remains largely focused on women’s reproductive rights and saving democracy from Trump, it has become increasingly focused (and comfortable) with addressing the economic challenges voters face.

Trump was ahead of Harris in almost every poll when it came to who would be better for the American economy. But recent polls show Harris using that advantage.

In a new Associated Press/National Opinion Research Center Center for Public Affairs Research poll, those polled gave Harris a 10-point lead over Trump on taxes and the middle class, a 5-point lead on housing costs and a small, 2-point lead on employment and unemployment.

Harris’ surrogates, including U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a founding member of the progressive House caucus “The Squad,” on Oct. 21, Sen. Bernie Sanders a week ago and his vice presidential running mate Tim Walz on Thursday, descended on Erie County for… Over the past two weeks, he has touted the Democratic presidential candidate’s plans to create an “opportunity economy.”

Harris’ economic plan includes tax cuts for 100 million Americans, offers down payment assistance of up to $25,000 for first-time homebuyers, and expands Medicare to include home care for seniors.

In what Harris calls the “care economy,” she plans to restore the pandemic-era expanded child tax credit, offer a $6,000 credit to parents of newborns, invest more in early childhood and K-12 education, and lower tuition costs. child care and expand the number of child care providers.

“Tim Walz and Kamala Harris are not new to this, they’re committed to this,” Pressley said during her Oct. 21 visit to ABC 24-Hour Care, owned by Tiffany LaVette. “Their number one economic priority is to lower costs for hardworking families, from child care to groceries, housing, healthcare, care for aging moms and dads and hardworking small business owners like Tiffany, Vice President Harris has a powerful economic plan.” which charts a new path forward for all who call this country. house.”

Waltz, who made two stops on State Street: one at the Ember + Forge coffee shop and the other at the Puerto Rican restaurant Vilma’s Kitchen, During his latest visit to Erie on Thursday, he talked, among other things, about Harris’ plans to increase the federal tax credit for small business startups tenfold, increasing it from $5,000 to $50,000.

And Harris unveiled an economic plan aimed directly at black men on the same day she deadlocked in Erie on Oct. 14. Before holding the rally at Erie Insurance Arena, Harris stopped by Black’s Legenderie Records and Coffee.

On Saturday, Clinton said he was focused on the future.

“You can’t change the past,” he said. “You can learn from this. You can have fun telling stories about it. I can keep you here until the cows come home. But what matters is today and tomorrow. This is the only thing we can influence.”

Not decided yet

Harris, he said, engages in price gouging, especially among large grocers, which continue to grow through mergers. Trump, on the other hand, is ignoring the fact that Covid-19 and the supply chain problems it has created have raised the cost of living around the world, he said.

Harris is proposing to build more homes to lower home prices, he said, and the country is seeing falling gasoline prices as the U.S. continues to produce more energy than it consumes.

“Everything from oil to natural gas, solar, wind, geothermal and hydro — almost magical new efficiency,” he said. “And it creates a huge number of jobs. For example, in Western Pennsylvania, more people now work in wind and solar energy than in coal and oil combined. She said Marcellus Shale is in other parts of the state, we need to develop this material, but we have to be very careful about building safe pipes and connections and places that can leak.”

Clinton accused Trump of “pegging his star on the Obama recovery,” referring to the recovery from the 2008 economic collapse, and said Trump, if elected, would take credit for Biden-era legislative achievements opposed which he spoke on, including infrastructure and the Jobs Act of 2021.

He also criticized Trump for the conservative “Project 2025,” a 900-page government reform plan written by the Heritage Foundation and scores of Trump allies, calling it a plan to turn the country into a “fact-free autocracy where no one can question the boss.” “

He implored the crowd to do everything they could to turn out voters on Tuesday.

“If the polls are correct, people are still trying to decide who to vote for or whether to vote at all,” Clinton said. “And you need to go out and tell people (to vote). You know, I want you to be this happy on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning or however long it takes to count the votes. The only way you go. be truly happy if we win. The next greatest thing is knowing that we did everything we could.”

Matthew Rink can be reached at: [email protected] or on X in @ETNrink.