Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
A push for millennials
Don’t vote third-party, he warns; Trump keeps to attack lines
Bernie Sanders speaks Wednesday in Durham, N.H., for former rival Hillary Clinton at a rally aimed at millennials. “It is imperative that we elect Hillary Clinton as our next president,” Sanders told the crowd at the University of New Hampshire. Donald Trump, pressing his campaign in Council Bluffs, Iowa, said that Clinton, given the chance, “would put the Oval Office up for sale.”
DURHAM, N.H. — Hillary Clinton turned to former primary adversary Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday to connect with millennials drawn to third- party candidates who are seen as potential spoilers in the 2016 campaign.
“None of this will happen if you don’t turn out and vote,” Clinton said onstage at the University of New Hampshire while joined by Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, who overwhelmed her in New Hampshire’s firstin-the-nation primary nine months ago.
Campaigning in the Midwest, Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, showed no sign Wednesday of embracing any big changes before his second debate with Clinton, pressing ahead with a strategy focused on speaking directly to his white working-class loyalists.
The New York businessman in the days since Monday’s debate attacked Clinton’s record as the nation’s chief diplomat, repeating those attack lines during a Wednesday appearance in Chicago and at a rally later in Iowa.
“If she ever got the chance, she would put the Oval Office up for sale,” Trump told hundreds gathered in a convention hall in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the day before early voting begins in that state.
In New Hampshire, both Clinton and Sanders touted a plan they developed at the end of the primaries to make college debt-free for millions of students from middle-class and low-income families. Surrounded by signs promoting the proposal, Clinton promised to push the plan through Congress if elected. The former opponents sat onstage for a panel discussion in the battleground state on ways to make college more affordable.
“I am here today to ask you not only to vote for Secretary Clinton but to work hard,” said Sanders, who exchanged a brief hug with Clinton after she took the stage. “It is imperative that we elect Hillary Clinton as our next president.”
Young voters were a key part of President Barack Obama’s winning coalition, with two-thirds of voters under 30 backing him in 2008 and 60 percent four years later, according to exit polls. That same group fueled Sanders’ insurgent bid, keeping him in the race until the final primary contest concluded in June.
Clinton acknowledges that she’s struggled to connect with millennials, who came of age during Obama’s era.
Her campaign is trying to reach those voters where they live — online. They’re planning online videos, interviews with streaming television shows and social media messages. Already, she’s appeared on singer Mary J. Blige’s Apple Music show and actor Zack Galifianakis’ online sketch comedy.
As Sanders has campaigned for Clinton across the country, the longtime independent politician has become a critic of third-party candidates, warning voters that it’s not the year for a protest vote.
That’s a message Sanders plans to take into at least a dozen battleground states before Election Day, according to aides, who say Sanders will be campaigning continuously over the next five weeks for Clinton.
In New Hampshire, Sanders tucked his support into a speech that focused on many of the themes of his primary campaign like combating money in politics.
“Is everybody here ready to transform America?” he asked the cheering crowd. “Today I am asking all of you to think big, not small.”
TRUMP ‘TWEAKS’
In Trump’s campaign, those closest to the businessman insisted the he remains satisfied with Monday night’s debate, even as prominent voices within his own party called for more serious preparation next time, after an opening confrontation marked by missed opportunities and missteps.
“Why would we change if we won the debate?” former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a key Trump ally and traveling partner this week, told The Associated Press. “Donald Trump is going to prepare for debates the way Donald Trump prepares for debates.”
The next debate is Oct. 9. Unlike Clinton, Trump is not planning to participate in any mock debates although he is likely to incorporate what one person described as “tweaks” to his strategy.
Specifically, Trump is likely to spend more time working on specific answers and sharpen his attacks after spending much of the first debate on the defensive, said that person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal campaign strategy.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Trump should have been better prepared, and he recommended that the candidate work harder with skilled coaches. He said, “What you need is people who are professional debaters.”
South Carolina’s Sen. Lindsey Graham said simply: “The only advice I could give him, and take it for what it’s worth — prepare better.”
Throughout his outsider presidential bid, Trump has refused to deviate from a strategy hinged on an ambitious travel schedule packed with huge rallies that draw overwhelmingly white crowds.
OBAMAS’ SUPPORT
Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, sought Wednesday to parlay her debate performance on Monday into stronger support from women, young Americans and other critical voter groups. She got help from her party’s biggest stars.
President Barack Obama hammered Trump over his business practices and treatment of women in an interview aired on Steve Harvey’s radio show. The Democratic president said his own legacy was “on the ballot” in November. He also suggested that Clinton wasn’t getting enough credit, possibly because she’s a woman.
“Part of it may be because she’s a woman, and we have not elected a woman president before,” he said.
Like Sanders, Obama used his comments to warn voters against choosing third-party candidates.
“If you don’t vote, that’s a vote for Trump,” Obama said in the radio interview. “If you vote for a third-party candidate who’s got no chance to win, that’s a vote for Trump.”
Reflecting on Monday’s debate, he sought to contrast the performances of Clinton and Trump, saying the Republican “doesn’t do his homework.”
And president’s wife, Michelle Obama, accused Trump of trying to undermine her husband’s presidency for years by questioning his birthplace. Trump publicly admitted, for the first time, that the president was born in America, after spending years raising questions about the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate.
“Trust me, a candidate is not going to suddenly change” once in office, the first lady said at a rally for Clinton in Pennsylvania. Referring to Trump’s reality TV show background, she added: “It is not an apprenticeship.”
Separately, The Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper, gave a historic endorsement to Clinton.
“Since The Arizona Republic began publication in 1890, we have never endorsed a Democrat over a Republican for president. Never. This reflects a deep philosophical appreciation for conservative ideals and Republican principles,” the paper wrote in an editorial. “The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified.”