Hillary Clinton needles New York mayor for slow endorsement
In what passes for campaign humor, Hillary Clinton mocked New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s sluggishness in endorsing her, and her own difficulty using a subway MetroCard, late Saturday night.
She and the mayor both appeared at the Inner Circle, an annual black-tie dinner attended by New York City media and government types.
Clinton walked on stage as Mayor de Blasio was performing his portion of the show, which also featured Leslie Odom Jr., from the cast of the Broadway smash “Hamilton.”
“Thanks for the endorsement, Bill,” she said. “Took you long enough.”
“Sorry, Hillary,” De Blasio said. “I run on C.P. time.”
“Cautious politician time,” she said. “OK, there are a lot of things I could ask you of international, national, city and state importance,” she said.
“Will you just fix those MetroCard slots? It took me like five swipes,” she said. “Fix the turnstiles.”
“We’ll get right on it,” de Blasio said. “Absolutely.”
Neither mentioned that the only reason Clinton was in the subway was because Bernie Sanders, her rival for the Democratic nomination, mistakenly said in a Daily News interview that he used a token to ride a subway last year. Tokens were discontinued in 2003.
“Well, you are my second-favorite guy named Bill,” Clinton told the mayor.
“Thank you very much. I got your back,” he said.
Then Odom spoke up: “Do not forget to vote in the New York State primary.”
“Thanks so much,” Clinton said. “But please can somebody get me tickets to ‘Hamilton’?”
Sanders already has bested her on the “Hamilton” front. He took his wife, Jane, to see the musical on Friday night.
In the delegate chase, Cruz is outmaneuvering Trump
David Coonradt came to the Colorado state Republican convention as part of Ted Cruz’s “persuasion team,” a squad of volunteers working to secure more delegates to propel Cruz to the party’s presidential nomination.
He came ready to tout the Texas senator’s gun-rights and anti-abortion credentials, but the most crucial information he had to impart appeared on the back of his neon orange T-shirt.
“The official Ted Cruz slate,” the shirt blared, with the names of 13 prospective delegates below.
More than 600 people were vying Saturday for 13 delegate slots for the Republican National Convention in July. The Cruz campaign wanted to ensure these loyal 13 secured those spots. Turning their volunteers into walking billboards was just one way to do so.
Donald Trump has won more votes and carried more states than any other Republican this year. Still, he could still lose the GOP nomination because so far he has largely ignored one of the most rudimentary aspects of a presidential run: securing loyal delegates.
Without saying his name, Hillary Clinton zings Bernie Sanders in New York
Don’t call him Bernie Sanders. Call him “someone.”
As she campaigned Sunday in African American churches in the borough of Queens, there seemed little question who Hillary Clinton was calling the lesser Democratic option as she defined herself as the candidate who would best preserve President Obama’s achievements and extend them further.
“I don’t think President Obama gets the credit he deserves for getting us out of the ditch that the [Republicans] got us into,” Clinton said in a familiar refrain, uttered Sunday at the New Greater Bethel Ministries church.
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FOR THE RECORD
6:04 p.m.: A previous headline on this article referred to Bernie Sanders as Bernie Clinton.
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And then she added a jab that seemed aimed at Sanders, along with Republicans running for president.
“Make no mistake what this election is about. On the one hand we have someone who rejects the idea that President Obama has made progress. Doesn’t give him the credit that I think he deserves,” she said. “On the other hand, we have Republicans who want to turn the clocks back and go in the wrong direction. So our job in this election is to stand firm and make it clear we’re going to build on the progress President Obama has made for America.”
“And that includes not just continuing all those months of job growth...it includes defending the Affordable Care Act.”
Sanders has not, in fact, rejected the idea that Obama has made progress during his seven years in office. But he has cast Obama’s achievements as lacking, particularly when it comes to cutting down the power of Wall Street financiers and providing healthcare to all Americans.
Sanders also is pushing for a universal, Medicare-for-all healthcare plan, which Clinton insists puts Obamacare at risk. During her remarks at the Queens church—the third of three stops she made Sunday at African American churches—Clinton reminded the crowd of the multiple attempts that Republicans have made to gut the program.
Sanders insists that he would maintain the president’s healthcare plan until he can gain passage of his own proposal—one that is given a dim chance of success in Washington at this point.
At another point, Clinton made what appeared to be a second dismissal of Sanders.
“I’ve laid out all these plans…Here’s what I know: Being president is more than just making speeches. Being president is more than just whipping up a crowd,” she said. “You gotta have a plan, you’ve gotta figure out how to do it, you’ve got to bring people to your side.”
Sanders has whipped up more than his share of crowds this election season; as Clinton uttered those words thousands were lining up at the Coney Island amusement park for an outdoor Sanders rally.
The two are fighting for dominance in the April 19 primary in New York, where Sanders was born and where Clinton served as U.S. senator.
Bernie Sanders keeps winning delegates, but so does Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders won Wyoming’s Democratic caucuses on Saturday, but still trails Hillary Clinton in delegate totals.
So how far ahead is Clinton?