President Clinton continues his tour of rural and small town Pennsylvania on Saturday 4/19. Here’s his schedule:

“Solutions for America” rally with Rep. Paul Kanjorski in Wilkes-Barre

9:45 – 11:45

Wilkes University – Marts Center
274 Franklin St
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701

As an aside, this also happens to be at the same place and time as the Ecological Society of America (ESA) Mid-Atlantic annual meeting. Traffic and parking are likely to be issues!

“Solutions for America” rally in Meadville

1:15 – 3:15

Allegheny College – Tippie Alumni Center
520 North Main Street
Meadville, PA 16335

“Solutions for America” in Hermitage

3:30 – 5:30

Hickory High School
640 N. Hermitage Road
Hermitage, PA 16148

“Solutions for America” in Beaver Falls

5:15- 7:15

Beaver Falls Middle School
1601 8th Avenue
Beaver Falls, PA 15010

On Wednesday (4/16) and Thursday (4/17), President Clinton will stop in the Pennsylvania small towns of Indiana, Kittaning, Clarion, New Castle, Cranberry, St. Mary’s, Clearfield and Lock Haven for “Solutions for America” events.

Indiana:

When: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 9:15 AM – 11:15 AM
Where: Indiana University of Pennsylvania – Memorial Field House
660 S. 11th St.
Indiana, PA 15705

Kittaning:

When
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Where
Kittanning Senior High School
1200 Orr Avenue
Kittanning, PA 16201

Clarion:

When
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where
Clarion University of Pennsylvania – Gemmell Student Complex
Wilson Avenue & Payne Streets
Clarion, PA 16214

New Castle:

When
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 3:45 PM – 5:45 PM
Where
New Castle Junior/Senior High School
300 E Lincoln Ave
New Castle, PA 16101

Cranberry:

When
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 5:45 PM – 7:45 PM
Where
Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA
2001 Ehrman Road
Cranberry Township, PA 16066

St. Mary’s:

When
Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 1:45 PM – 3:45 PM
Where
American Legion Post #103
168 Center St
St. Mary’s, PA 15857

Clearfield:

When
Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Where
Clearfield Area Middle School
602 Mill Road
Clearfield, PA 16830

Lock Haven:

When
Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 7:45 PM – 9:45 PM
Where
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania – Thomas Field House
401 N Fairview St.
Lock Haven, PA 17745

Since November, more than 111,000 Pennsylvanians have registered to vote in the Democratic primary on April 22nd. That’s a huge and unprecedented 3% increase in registrations for the party over the past six months, which is just a few thousand voters shy of its all-time high of 4 million voters.

The AP is reporting that while the Obama campaign is presumed to be largely behind this new voter drive, given his recent ads and the campaign’s history of driving up registrations, the Clinton campaign is also hard at work registering new voters for the first time in this primary season.

Chester County outside of Philadelphia has received a “very large, very steady” volume of new voter registrations. In fact, the nine counties with the largest percentage increases in new Democratic registrations are concentrated in the Philadelphia suburbs and central PA. My earlier reporting on new voter registration in urban Pittsburgh also picked up on the surprisingly large number of new voters entering because of this race.

I’m feeling a little jealous and slighted by the focus of this campaign and I want some attention for my family, and my friends, and my neighbors across the entire state. We don’t live in a big city, we have no big industry close by that is employing most of the area, and we are not specifically and jointly feeling an identifiable vice on our heads for the same reason as someone else, but it’s there nonetheless. We are the small town folk who are watching Mom and Pop stores close on a regular basis. We are the small town folk who can’t depend on public transportation, so we need our car to take us everywhere. And we are the small town folk who have less money in our pockets at a time when everything costs more.

I spoke to an accountant last week, who told me that ten of his clients closed their small businesses last year. He never saw anything like this. And these were clients he had had for a number of years. Unfortunately, these closings don’t just happen. It probably was a slow painful death as the business owner tried to tough it out. They use every resource they have, and in some cases occur new debt. By the time denial and reality collide, the decision has been made for them.

But it is more than just businesses closing. Those businesses that are still operating are cutting back, laying off. They have implemented a freeze on any raise to those still there and the bigger companies are messing with any pension plan that enticed a young worker there, for less, to begin with.

So, we don’t have a big catchall situation, i.e. the real plight of the automobile industry, to charge up your speeches, but we still need answers to the big picture. Talk to us, candidates. Talk to the huge number of us out here who can’t even find a reason how we got from “there to here.”

PA is either the first, third or fourth most rural state in the country, depending on how one measures ‘rural.’ By every definition, though, Pennsylvania is rural. Yes, there are the big cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and medium-sized ones like Erie, Harrisburg and Scranton, but outside of these limited areas, it’s a rural state.

While many have agreed with James Carville’s assessment of PA as Philly and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between, it isn’t as simple as that. Pennsylvania’s rural interior is actually fairly diverse socioeconomically. More on this in a later post, but Alabama it ain’t.

President Clinton today said in front of nearly 2,000 that the Clinton campaign needs to win in Pennsylvania and win big. In Canonsburg, in western Pennsylvania, he said

I think she’s got to win a big victory in Pennsylvania. I think if she does, she can be nominated, but it’s up to you.
He also reiterated his commitment from earlier in the day to go all across Pennsylvania during this primary season, especially to the small towns and rural areas. The Clintons will be “like a wet blanket [across Pennsylvania] between now and April 22″

]]> http://teabird.com/2008/03/11/president-clinton-has-high-expectations/feed/ 0 http://teabird.com/2008/03/11/president-clinton-to-visit-small-town-pa/ http://teabird.com/2008/03/11/president-clinton-to-visit-small-town-pa/#comments Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:31:14 +0000 Matthew David Carter http://pennsylvania-primary.com/2008/03/11/president-clinton-to-visit-small-town-pa/

During a rally at Washington & Jefferson College today outside of Pittsburgh, the former President said that he hopes to visit many small colleges and counties throughout the state during the campaign.

Pennsylvania, of course, has lots (and lots) of small towns, colleges and counties. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, being feted by past and

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During a rally at Washington & Jefferson College today outside of Pittsburgh, the former President said that he hopes to visit many small colleges and counties throughout the state during the campaign.

Pennsylvania, of course, has lots (and lots) of small towns, colleges and counties. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, being feted by past and future Presidents is going to take some getting used to around here.

I personally had earlier wished that Pennsylvania would move its primary up to Super Tuesday, but no longer. This is going to be great!

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