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Stabenow: Future 'tough' for Clinton
date: May 12, 2008
SOURCE: Detroit News - Washington Bureau
By: Gordon Trowbridge
DEARBORN -- U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Monday "the numbers are very tough" for Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes, but the Michigan lawmaker and Clinton supporter stopped short of calling on Clinton to end her campaign for the nomination.
"I will support her however she wants to proceed," Stabenow said after a lunch speech to the Detroit Economic Club. "But I do think the numbers are becoming clearer."
Stabenow also downplayed talk of Clinton joining Barack Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, as his vice-presidential running mate.
"I think it's possible. I don't think it's the most probable outcome," she said.
Regardless, Stabenow said, Clinton will work hard for Obama if the Illinois senator is the party's nominee.
Stabenow said Obama, who will visit Michigan on Wednesday for the first time since July, will be able to overcome his potential disadvantages in Michigan, including his tough talk aimed at the domestic auto industry and his role in the dispute over Michigan's January primary and its delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
"I have indicated (to Obama) that when he talks about the auto industry, he needs to talk about today's auto industry," Stabenow said. But she said she believes Michigan voters will focus more on wanting a change from the Bush administration's policies than on the delegate dispute or discomfort with Obama's auto-industry rhetoric.
Speaking to the Detroit Economic Club at the Dearborn Inn, Stabenow portrayed Michigan as economically battered, but making progress on alternative energy and health-care improvements that can make the state a national model.
In response to a question from the audience after her speech, she said she is involved in talks with Canadian officials on trying to limit trash brought to Michigan from Ontario. Stabenow and Michigan's senior senator, Democrat Carl Levin, brokered a deal to stop all imports of trash from Canadian cities by 2010; now, she said, they are trying to block construction and business waste. If there is no agreement, she said, she is prepared to propose legislation to force a ban.
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