Clinton picks up two key endorsements

Riding high after a strong debate performance, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton swept through Las Vegas on Saturday, picking up two major endorsements along the way.

"We had a great debate here the other night," Clinton said. "It was exciting to be in Vegas, where a lot of things happen. And this time, what happened in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas."

Despite the tired cliché, the crowd of about 200 union metal- workers in matching shirts cheered. Clinton was accepting the endorsement of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, which has about 150,000 members, 3,300 of them in Nevada.

"We finally got into some real issues," the New York senator said of Thursday night's Democratic presidential debate at UNLV, when she took on her rivals more directly than she previously had.

Repeating a criticism of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama from the debate, she said, "My health care plan covers every American. Senator Obama's doesn't. He didn't make that decision. Well, I think it takes strength and experience to make tough decisions."

Clinton also referenced another of Obama's criticisms, that she has not been specific enough in addressing Social Security reform.

"I think it is time that Democrats stop using Republican talking points about Social Security. I am sick of it," she said.

Clinton said she was committed to protecting the program, but "I don't intend to fix the long-term challenges of Social Security on the back of middle-class workers and seniors."

Clinton contends those groups would be hurt if individuals making more than $97,000 a year had to pay more payroll taxes.

Before speaking to the Las Vegas workers, Clinton toured the international union's training facility next door, where workers take classes to prepare them for various specialties.

She praised the facility for providing options for the 60 percent of American students who don't graduate from college, and said it was "proof that a good partnership between labor and management is good for America."

Like her husband, whose first presidential campaign had the unofficial motto, "It's the economy, stupid," Clinton in her speeches ties nearly every issue to jobs, wages and family budgets.

Pitching her plan for renewable energy, Clinton barely mentioned improving the environment, emphasizing instead that expanding solar and wind power would produce "jobs you can't outsource."

Solving America's energy problems, she said, "has to start with the idea that this will be good for our economy. I want to see people making money, doing jobs right here at home. ... I'll tell you how we're going to pay for it: We're going to take the tax subsidies away from the oil companies."

Clinton went from the union hall to Rancho High School in North Las Vegas, where she picked up another coveted endorsement, that of state Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen.

He attended the school, which lies in the district he has represented in Carson City since being elected just one year ago.

Despite being a political newcomer and just 27 years old, Kihuen has been cast as an up-and-coming figure in the Democratic Party with the power to rally the Hispanic vote.

All the candidates heavily courted Kihuen, the first Mexican immigrant to hold elected office in Nevada.

Fliers saying, "Nevada esta listo para un cambio," and signs reading, "America con Hillary," were handed out at the rally, which drew about 500 people.

After being introduced in English and Spanish by Kihuen, Clinton called him an "extraordinary young man," noting he is the same age as her daughter.

Clinton's 35-minute speech hit on her familiar themes: ending the war in Iraq, improving relations with other countries, creating new jobs, energy, universal health insurance, improving education.

On immigration, she said, "Comprehensive immigration reform has to be addressed ... consistent with our heritage: a nation of immigrants that respects the rule of law."

She closed with a call to action, saying, "We can't afford any bystanders today -- people who think it's somebody else's job to caucus, somebody else's job to vote. Resolve right now that you're going to care about this, that you're going to participate in this."

Audience member Kathy Lamotte, 57, said she was a new Clinton convert.

"She won my vote on Thursday night," Lamotte said. "I was on the fence between her and Obama."

Lamotte said she didn't attend the debate, but she watched it twice, and it was Clinton's answer on the question of driver's licenses for illegal immigrants -- "No" -- that helped her decide between Clinton and Obama.

Lamotte wasn't bothered by the fact that it was a reversal of Clinton's earlier position.

"I'm against driver's licenses for illegal immigrants," said Lamotte, who cares for her three grandchildren. "I just don't see what it's going to solve."

Another audience member also had paid particular attention to the driver's license issue in the debate. Luis Velazco, 34, said he agreed with Clinton's opposition, but would have liked to hear her explain, either in the debate or in Saturday's speech, her plan to legalize the millions of illegal immigrants living in America.

"She came here to talk to the Latin community, but she said nothing about how she's going to treat Latin people," Velazco said.

An engineer from Mexico who came to America last year on a special visa created by the North American Free Trade Agreement, Velazco said he also was disappointed to hear Clinton turn against NAFTA, which her husband championed.

On Thursday night, Clinton called it "a mistake."

"I admire her, and I want her to be the next president," Velazco said. "I'm not an American citizen, so I can't vote. But I think she has to take some ideas from Obama if she wants to win -- some new ideas."

Clinton was scheduled to go from the rally to a renewable energy forum in California.

After the debate, Clinton had planned to spend the next two days campaigning in Nevada, but had to rush back to Washington on Friday to vote on the farm bill in the Senate.

Clinton nonetheless made it back to Northern Nevada on Friday evening. Campaigning in Fernley, she said she supported Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's opposition to coal-fired power plants being planned for eastern Nevada, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2919.