Clinton’s visit

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: May 5, 2008

Whether or not you’re a fan of Bill Clinton, his visit to Reidsville on Sunday was welcome and encouraging.
And it also shows how important North Carolina is to today’s primary.
Clinton and his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, are completing a whirlwind tour in preparation for today’s primary. Her challenger, Barack Obama, hasn’t visited Rockingham County, although made he has made several stops in the Triad.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue visited Eden last month, and her rival, state Treasurer Richard Moore, called us last week to talk about his candidacy and his plans for Rockingham County and the state.
On Friday, Roy Carter, who is seeking the Democratic nomination in the 5th Congressional District, visited Madison.
Rockingham County is likely to vote Democratic, but the GOP’s gubernatorial candidates have been relatively quiet. Fred Smith visited Rockingham County much earlier in the campaign, and Bill Graham sent a representative, county Republican Party chairman Dan Zeller said.
The focus this primary season is undeniably Democratic, and many new voters have registered that way. The county has 27,846 registered Democrats, 18,026 Republicans
and 11,131 registered as “unaffiliated,” according to the Board of Elections.
Turnout in early voting for Rockingham County has been good, and we expect tight races on both sides for a seat on the board of commissioners.
Bill Clinton drew more than 600 people to Reidsville High School on a warm night in early May. He was an hour late, but that did little to dampen people’s enthusiasm.
“She believes that we have to bring rural America back into mainstream economics,” Clinton, referring to his wife, told the crowd Sunday. “We want this to be a land of shared prosperity again.”
People will disagree with whatever Clinton has to say, and that’s what makes a democracy so great.
John McCain sealed the GOP presidential nomination months ago. That being said, we’re seemingly getting only one side of the story – from the proverbial left. To borrow a line from Paul Harvey, Rockingham County voters have so far failed to hear “the rest of the story.”
Surely that will change in the months leading up to the general election in November.