Page 18 - Florida Sentinel 3-18-16 Edition

Local
Democratic Rallies Get Mixed Reactions From Some Who Attended
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both visited Tampa last week to drum up support for their campaigns just days before voters went to the polls on Tuesday.
Both candidates attracted large crowds to their rallies and gave passionate speeches, with Mrs. Clin- ton addressing job creation and climate control and Mr. Sanders deriding economic inequality and calling for a “political revolution”.
On Thursday morning, Tampa resident Delores Jackson stood with hun- dreds of others in the over- flow room of the Ritz Ybor Theater along with hundreds of other Clinton supporters and faithfully waited for
more than an hour to see the former Secretary of State.
Hours later, she also at- tended the Sanders rally at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall.
But Ms. Jackson, a self- described lifelong Democrat, admitted she hadn’t decided which candidate would get her vote.
“I did have concerns about her hawkishness (Clinton), but I’m willing to hear her out,” she said. “I’m giving them both a listen.”
But for Mae Judge, also a Tampa resident and lifelong Democrat, there’s no ques- tion for which presidential candidate she’s voting for.
With her granddaughter, Rylee Johnson, 17, stand- ing beside her, Ms. Judge said Mrs. Clinton is the best candidate.
“I think she can bring the change the country needs,”
Ms. Mae Judge poses for a photo with her granddaughter, Rylee Johnson, 17, at the Hillary Clinton rally last Thurs- day at the Ritz Ybor Theater.
she said. “She’s going to pick up right where Pres. Obama left off.”
Later this year, Rylee will turn 18 and vote for the first time in the November elec- tions.
She initially supported Mrs. Clinton’s opponent Bernie Sanders, but now
backs the former New York senator.
“I like what she stands for,” she said. “What Mr. Sanders was saying about free college sounded good, but after listening to my grandmother and other peo- ple, I leaned toward Mrs. Clinton.”
In her speech, Mrs. Clin- ton said if elected she will knock down “the barriers that stand in the way for everybody.”
In Florida, two of those barriers are a crumbling in- frastructure and climate change, she said.
“The best way for us to combat climate change is clean renewable energy jobs,” she said. “Those jobs can’t be exported they have to be right here in America.”
She also criticized Gov. Rick Scott’s refusal to accept more than $ 2 billion in fed-
eral money that would con- nect Tampa to Orlando via a high speed rail system.
“It makes absolutely no sense, especially if we know we’re going to have to do high speed rail,” she said.
Hours later across town, University of Tampa stu- dents, Brianna Mercer, 22, and Pasama Cole, 21, waited with thousands of others to hear Mr. Sanders.
Mr. Sanders’ policies – especially those regarding prison reforms – and his sup- port of the Black Lives Mat- ter movement are more appealing, said Ms. Mercer, who is studying criminal jus- tice.
“When he says some- thing, it’s coming from a gen- uine place,” she said. Ms. Cole concurred.
“He does not flip flop,” she said. “He does not say things just because they’re popular.”
Mr. Sanders, fresh off an upset against Mrs. Clinton in Michigan, mocked naysay- ers who called him a “fringe candidate”.
“The reason we’re doing so well is that we’re doing something pretty radical – we’re telling the truth,” he said.
Mr. Sanders attacked the “corrupt campaign fi- nance system” and urged the crowd to stand up against the high costs of college tuition and a “rigged economic sys- tem.”
“We have more wealth in- equality than any other de- veloped country on Earth,” he said. “The top 10 percent owns as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent.”
Before attending the Sanders rally, Ms. Jack- son said she stopped to cast her vote.
“I already voted for him today,” she said. “But I’m prepared to vote for her if he doesn’t get the nomination.”
PAGE 6-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016