BREAKING NEWS Clinton to Caprio: ‘You can still win this’
Monday, November 01, 2010
President Clinton today said Democrat Frank Caprio can “still win” the race for governor, despite polls that show him slipping and the continuing fallout from controversial remarks he made about President Obama last week. Clinton also twice joked that Caprio should have received the Tea Party endorsement for his economic policies.
“You can still win this race you know,” Clinton said, before an ethusiastic crowd at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence. “You can win this race.”
Clinton called on voters to reject “distractions” that have no effect on their lives.
Clinton criticizes Chafee, Robitaille
The former president devoted much of his speech to contrasting Caprio’s policies with those of his chief opponents - independent Lincoln Chafee and Republican John Robitaille. He said Chafee wants to raise taxes on food, medicine, and textbooks while Robitaille wants to continue Gov. Don Carcieri’s policies - which Clinton blamed for state having the fourth highest unemployment rate in the country.
Clinton praised Caprio’s approach to helping the state recover from the recession. He said Caprio would cut the budget and reform taxes, leading to more jobs. Repeating one of Caprio’s favorite campaign lines, Clinton said that if every small business added one job, the state’s unemployment rate would be cut in half.
“I can’t figure out why the Tea Party hasn’t endorsed him. No, Really!” Clinton quipped.
Caprio: ‘I got knocked down a little bit’
Earlier in the event, Caprio again sought to put the controversy over his “shove it” slam against President Obama behind him. “Last week I got knocked down a little bit just like you got knocked down in your life,” Caprio said. “But here in Rhode Island we don’t mind getting knocked down a little bit because we get right back up. ... We’re going to get this whole state back up. We’re going to get Rhode Island back up.”
Attorney General Patrick Lynch also spoke briefly at the event. Other top Democrats who attended included General Treasurer candidate Gina Raimondo, Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox, and Senate President Teresa Pavia Weed.
