Essay from America: Clinton steels herself for Tuesday touchdown

Yes, we are needy about wanting every American president to think of us but Hillary Clinton really did reference Ireland in her very first remarks at her campaign rally in Pittsburgh.

She was thanking her host, Dan Rooney, “a great ambassador to Ireland”, who was the US ambassador here up to 2012 when he returned to the US to take over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the American football team his father founded.

Now here was Hillary in the Heinz Field, home ground of the Steelers, surrounded by displays of helmets and shoulder pads and looking like she could do with some.

She’s having her mettle and her metal tested by those ever-tightening polls and in Pittsburgh, the city of steel, they know all about that.

However, Hillary wasn’t shying away from her opponent, taking fighting talk to the gritty cities of Pittsburgh and Detroit on a day when Trump was in a country club and a chocolate factory.

Well, he was in a convention centre in the town of Hershey, known as the chocolate factory of America, but the contrast was irresistible.

However, as well as tackling Trump, Hillary also indirectly acknowledged her own position with many voters who don’t like her and will vote for her primarily to block her rival.

“I truly believe you deserve a candidate you can vote for, not just someone to vote against. I want you to know what the agenda is. I want you to hold me accountable,” she told the crowd in her half-hour address.

The crowd was considerably less than the Steelers will attract when they take on the Baltimore Ravens today, probably no more than 500, but Hillary’s cheerleaders were vocal.

Barbara White Stack of the United Steel Workers said Trump’s promises to revive the steel industry were empty.

“He lacks credibility on the issue. He has used Chinese steel and Chinese aluminium in his hotels. He doesn’t have workers’ interests at heart and he doesn’t understand international trade. Hillary will help the industry survive,” she said.

Khaney Martin was wearing a ‘Care Workers for Hillary’ T-shirt. What’s Hillary going to do for care workers? “$15 an hour, that’s what.”

Hillary’s promise of raising the minimum wage resonates strongly with the mainly female workforce who make up the low earners.

Elizabeth Hogan, married to Corkman Edward Hogan, wore the slogan ‘Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense’. Edward couldn’t come because he was working and he can’t vote because he hasn’t taken on American citizenship.

“It’s an emotional thing. He doesn’t want to not be a fully Irish citizen,” she said.

It could get a lot more emotional if there’s only a ballot in the difference when Pennsylvania votes next Tuesday.

World: 12&13