Sen. Clinton is wooing working-class voters, a staple of her support, in northern Indiana.
Thomas Fitzgerald reports from Portage, Ind.:
3:10 p.m.
Clinton finished, with a rousing call for a good turnout Tuesday and vowing to fight for working people in the White House. Clinton had a good performance,, feeding off a fired up crowd. Of course, nothing did top the introducer's comparison of Hillary's courage to male gonads.
2:48 p.m.
Clinton says we've got to get out of Iraq, and she does not dismiss out of hand concerns that the U.S. would leave a power vaccum resulting in chaos or even genocidal warfare.
"I can't predict what will happen," she says. "I worry about it. If you're the president and you don't worry, you're not paying attention."
2:36 p.m. Eastern
Clinton doing the populist thing. She will retool trade agreements and crack down on China for its trade practices. She also accuses the oil companies of Enron-like behavior in its ceaseless price increases.
"I think the market is being manipulated," Clinton says. "You can't convince me this has anything to do with supply and demand. I don't believe it."
2:10 p.m. Eastern
Paul Gibson, president of United Steeworkers Local 6787 here, introduced Hillary saying she is the kind of leader with the "testicular fortitude" to make tough decisions.
Taking the stage, Sen. Hillary Clinton said she appreciated the endorsement. "I do think I have fortitude," she said, as the audience laughed and cheered. "Women can have it as well as men."
The senator is due in about a half hour here at the Steelworkers union hall in this town on Lake Michigan.
We're told that up the road in South Bend this morning, Clinton visited a Marathon gas station to "commute" to work with a sheet-metal worker. She didn't pump the gas, he did, but she talked about her "passion" to addres spocketbook concerns. It cost $63.67 to fill up the worker's truck at $3.79 a gallon.
She renewed her call to suspend the federal gas tax this summer to provide a measure of relief to drivers, a plan that Obama opposes as a gimmick. Sen. Clinton would pay for it by imposing a "windfall profits" tax on oil companies instead.
how about answers to the pending election fraud trial in which both Clintons will have to answer whether they violated election laws? Another whitewater ahead of us? That's what we spent millions on and it took away our focus on a deteriorating Afghanistan and a plotting bin Laden (yes, that occurred during the 'good' Clinton years). More Clinton legal woes to come to fill up our days and nights if she is elected?— bernadette
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The Inauguration: Jan. 20 blog brings you coverage of President-elect Barack Obama's transition into office.
It's written by political journalists from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Send us your comments -- and news tips -- at this address.
Thomas Fitzgerald joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2000, and has covered Harrisburg as well as city, state and national politics for the newspaper. He was a “boy on the bus” in the 2004 presidential campaign and during primary contests in 2000 and 1996.
Nathan Gorenstein has covered politics and government in the city, state and nation for the Inquirer. He's worked in the city hall bureau, had a stint on the business desk, and once covered the suburbs. After serving as assistant regional editor, he was named editor of the "Politics" web site.
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