Obama, Bill Clinton fill in for Hillary amid health crisis
Hillary Clinton called in heavyweight reinforcements to hit the campaign trail Tuesday as she remained holed up in Chappaqua recovering from a bout of pneumonia that took her two days to disclose.
A fired-up President Obama, making his first solo campaign stop for Clinton in Philadelphia, urged Democrats in the crucial swing state to get excited about their candidate.
“I am really into electing Hillary Clinton,” Obama said. “This is not me going through the motions here. I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton.”
But the president didn’t bring up Clinton’s health.
Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, tried a similar tact by assuming the VP nominee’s traditional attack-dog role. On Monday, Kaine had talked at length about Clinton’s health.
But on Tuesday, he reverted to slamming GOP rival Donald Trump.
Bill Clinton planned to speak in his wife’s place at a pair of Beverly Hills fund-raisers, while daughter Chelsea Clinton made two stops in North Carolina — with two more on tap Wednesday.
But the health issue — and Team Clinton’s delay in explaining that she nearly fainted at the 9/11 memorial service Sunday because of pneumonia — didn’t recede.
USA Today, the nation’s largest newspaper by circulation, wrote a blistering editorial Tuesday questioning Clinton’s honesty.
As usual, keeping the public in the dark is not working to Clinton’s advantage,” the newspaper said. “What might have been a brief flurry about what is likely to be a minor health issue has instead become a full-fledged media and political frenzy that confirms the widely held and damaging sense that she can’t be trusted.”
Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday — but aides initially claimed she was simply “overheated.”
Hours later, they revealed her medical problem.
In ironic timing, the latest issue of Women’s Health magazine featured a spread on Clinton.
Asked about the biggest obstacles she’s faced on the campaign trail, she replied: “Well, for starters, the pace of a presidential campaign is nonstop!”
Clinton’s New York donors rallied around their ailing candidate.
“People I talk to don’t see a big deal here,” said Jay Jacobs, a top Clinton bundler and chair of the Nassau County Democratic Committee.
Jacobs says he doesn’t consider pneumonia a disqualifying medical issue because it’s easily treated.
“If she had a serious health issue that could impact her candidacy, the public has a right to know,” he said. “I don’t want to know every time Donald Trump has the runs.”
Hillary Clinton called in heavyweight reinforcements to hit the campaign trail Tuesday as she remained holed up in Chappaqua recovering from a bout of pneumonia that took her two days to disclose.
A fired-up President Obama, making his first solo campaign stop for Clinton in Philadelphia, urged Democrats in the crucial swing state to get excited about their candidate.
“I am really into electing Hillary Clinton,” Obama said. “This is not me going through the motions here. I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton.”
But the president didn’t bring up Clinton’s health.
Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, tried a similar tact by assuming the VP nominee’s traditional attack-dog role. On Monday, Kaine had talked at length about Clinton’s health.
But on Tuesday, he reverted to slamming GOP rival Donald Trump.
Bill Clinton planned to speak in his wife’s place at a pair of Beverly Hills fund-raisers, while daughter Chelsea Clinton made two stops in North Carolina — with two more on tap Wednesday.
But the health issue — and Team Clinton’s delay in explaining that she nearly fainted at the 9/11 memorial service Sunday because of pneumonia — didn’t recede.
USA Today, the nation’s largest newspaper by circulation, wrote a blistering editorial Tuesday questioning Clinton’s honesty.
As usual, keeping the public in the dark is not working to Clinton’s advantage,” the newspaper said. “What might have been a brief flurry about what is likely to be a minor health issue has instead become a full-fledged media and political frenzy that confirms the widely held and damaging sense that she can’t be trusted.”
Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday — but aides initially claimed she was simply “overheated.”
Hours later, they revealed her medical problem.
In ironic timing, the latest issue of Women’s Health magazine featured a spread on Clinton.
Asked about the biggest obstacles she’s faced on the campaign trail, she replied: “Well, for starters, the pace of a presidential campaign is nonstop!”
Clinton’s New York donors rallied around their ailing candidate.
“People I talk to don’t see a big deal here,” said Jay Jacobs, a top Clinton bundler and chair of the Nassau County Democratic Committee.
Jacobs says he doesn’t consider pneumonia a disqualifying medical issue because it’s easily treated.
“If she had a serious health issue that could impact her candidacy, the public has a right to know,” he said. “I don’t want to know every time Donald Trump has the runs.”
