Sen. Hillary Clinton greets voters following a rally at St. Norbert College February 18, 2008 in De Pere, Wisconsin on primary eve. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
by Rick Pearson
DE PERE, Wis.—They say that there’s no do-overs in politics, but that’s exactly what Hillary Clinton is trying to do today—redoing a series of appearances originally scheduled for Sunday but canceled due to ice and snowy weather.
As light snow began to grow heavier shortly before 7 a.m. in Milwaukee, the New York senator embarked on a President’s Day campaign schedule that is supposed to trek from near Green Bay to Wausau to Eau Claire and on to Madison.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. By the time she took the stage at St. Norbert College outside Green Bay, she had originally figured to be campaigning in Ohio instead.
In Wisconsin, the Clinton campaign is hoping to at least finish competitive with rival Sen. Barack Obama in the ever-crucial convention nominating delegate count, if not pull off an upset in the Illinois senator’s neighboring state. Clinton, seeking to acquire a populist-economic mantle previously held by former contender John Edwards, also is borrowing from the former North Carolina senator’s campaign playbook.
Clinton today unveiled “Solutions for America,” Clinton’s “economic blueprint for the 21st Century,” a compendium of previously stated positions on trade, economic policy and the home foreclosure crisis.
Edwards offered his 77-page “Plan to build one America” in mid-November. Clinton’s booklet is 13 pages. Of course, Edwards is no longer a candidate and is now being courted for an endorsement by the two survivors.
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None of the policy positions in her pamphlet are necessarily new—just the campaign’s math. Page 2 of the booklet contends, among the litany of challenges facing Americans, that “Gas is over $3.00 a barrel.”
One barrel holds 31 gallons, which would make the price of gas about 9.6 cents a gallon. That’s merely a drop in the bucket from the $2.99 a gallon advertised at the gas stations along the route to St. Norbert College.