Talk Nation Radio special, Election coverage from Rhode Island March 4, 2008
Rhode Island is considered the most reliably Democratic state when it comes to electing presidents. The November general election will likely go to the Democrat challenging John McCain. It will not help McCain that he has support from George. W. Bush whose approval rating has hovered toward 14 percent.
But though George W. Bush is unpopular here, that doesn't necessarily mean there are no conservatives. There are in fact conservative democrats, and many of the leaders of what could be called, Rhode Island's democratic machine are supporting Hillary Clinton. That means most of the super delegates and roughly half of the state representatives are endorsing her.
A close race means the delegate count changes, and it will be an interesting process to watch.
We spoke with some of the leading progressive democrats and peace activists in order to get a sense of what this primary race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama means to state voters. Their biggest difference is the war in Iraq and joining us to talk about the race are state representative David Segal, a democrat, and Paul Hubbard of the Rhode Island Mobilization Committee to Stop War and Occupation.
We turn first to, State Representative David Segal. His district is Providence and part of the city of East Providence. He was a Green Party member and served on the City Council before running for office as He works on issues like promoting social justice, civil .liberties, civil rights, environmentalism, fighting poverty, pushing for progressive taxation, stuff that encompasses a broad world view your listeners share or will certainly recognize.
David Segal is one of the youngest members of Rhode Island's legislature. he was elected in 2006, He served on the Providence City Council in 2002 as the first Green elected in Rhode Island and the Youngest Councilman. His February 20th story, Hillary Clinton's Textron Problem appears on Rhode Island's Future.org. It notes that Hillary Cinton voted against 2006 legislation that would have restricted the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas, that year she accepted campaign money from Textron, a multinational aerospace conglomerate that manufactures cluster bombs. After this interview David Segal joined the Rhode Island group Immigrants United at a press conference where they unveiled their Campaign for Fairness, Respect and Civil Rights - a legislative platform that promotes racial and economic equality for every Rhode Islander.
When former president Bill Clinton was speaking at Bryant College in Rhode Island, our next guest Paul Hubbard was outside with a group of anti war protesters. He is with the Rhode Island Mobilization Committee to Stop War and Occupation. I asked him to comment on what Clinton said in the state on the way Hillary Clinton gets along with John McCain who is very pro Iraq War.
Paul Hubbard was outside with a group of anti war protesters. He is with the Rhode Island Mobilization Committee to Stop War and Occupation.
One note about an upcoming event: Nearly forty years ago, 109 Vietnam Veterans gathered at a Howard Johnson's Motel in Detroit to tell their stories. They poured out their awful truths about the civilian casualties, the wholesale destruction of human lives as well as crops and livestock. And the point, as Maya Schenwar points out in Truthout, was to take collective responsibility and incriminate a much larger culprit, the war itself.
Now another group of veterans will follow in their footsteps and will tell their stories of war at the Winter Soldier Conference from March 13 to 16--in Silver Spring, Maryland. The event is organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War and will make up the largest gathering ever of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
Finally, there is no denying the fact that Barack Obama moves people to action. It seems inspiration is something a lot of Americans are looking for. Thousands waited in line to see Obama at Rhode Island College. The recreation center held 5,000 people and thousands more couldn't get in. Obama spoke to them outside. And as the line progressed of people waiting to get in I noticed an interesting phenomenon. One person after another said they were inspired, that they had never before come out to see a presidential candidate but here they were. We end with Mack Hedgepeth of Charlstown, RI, a farmer who said he was inspired by Obama.
