Sunday, her advisers cast a wide net in their continuing assault on Obama, hammering questions about his experience as well as his ties to a real estate magnate, Tony Rezko, who goes on trial Monday in Chicago. Clinton officials held a 45-minute conference call Sunday to highlight testimonials from former military officers, chief among them retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, about her national security credentials.
In Akron, Clinton tied together the economy and national security issues, saying that the region's economic downturn has a potential impact on defense technology.
"We used to own the night, in the American military, because we created night vision," Clinton said. "Now we don't own it anymore -- we just rent it." She said trade secrets and intellectual property have been shipped offshore, along with manufacturing jobs, creating fresh threats to national security.
At rallies throughout her final day in Ohio, Clinton stressed her fighting spirit. "For every problem, there's a solution in America," she said.
To make sure no one missed the point that she is waging a battle to the end, Clinton was introduced at a rally near Youngstown by Kelly Pavlik, a middleweight boxing champion and Youngstown native. Clinton said her husband, former president Bill Clinton, had described Pavlik as "another Comeback Kid" for the way he won his title. She said Pavlik could serve as an example to a region that has been battered economically. But the words applied equally to her own situation heading into Tuesday's showdowns with Obama.
"You know, in life, you get knocked down from time to time," she said. "Sometimes, well, you don't know it's coming." She recalled the day the steel plant in Youngstown was locked up and the workers lost their jobs, but said she has been struck in her travels across Ohio the past two weeks by the resolve of people to rebuild the economy and their own lives. "I have seen in the last weeks the resilience and the grit and the determination of the people in Youngstown and across Ohio."
Staff writer Dan Balz, with the Clinton campaign in Ohio, contributed to this report. |
