BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Chelsea Clinton came to town last week and stopped at Heritage Village, the retirement community across the street from Town Hall. She provided an audience of 100 with a number of reasons to vote for her mother, Hillary Clinton, the current Democrat presidential frontrunner and former first lady to her father, Bill Clinton.
It was a relaxed presentation and elected officials came out for the glitter. Among the dignitaries in attendance were Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr; Essex County Democratic Party boss Leroy Jones; Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, D-District 28, and Sheriff Armando Fontoura. Among Bloomfield elected officials attending were Mayor Michael Venezia, Councilmen Nick Joanow and Carlos Pomares, and Councilwoman Wartyna Davis.
Jones said he could not wait until June 7.
On June 7, Democrat and Republican candidates will face each other in various primary elections across the country to see who will represent their respective party in the November general election.
“Let’s put Hillary over the top before California,” Jones called out.
Clinton was introduced by Venezia. She stood on a small stage.
“I’m obviously pregnant,” she said, “so I’ll sit down. I can hear my doctor telling me this. I have a 19-month-old daughter at home and about to welcome her brother or sister.”
She said she cast her first vote as a mother just a few weeks ago, in the New York primary, for her mother. She was surprised, she said, that this upcoming presidential election meant so much to her, surprised after spending so much time as a youngster at political events. During that time, her father had served as governor of Arkansas and U.S. President.
“Now as a mom, this election is fundamental,” she said.
She said at stake was the progress made by President Barack Obama, and the core values of the country.
“I should acknowledge that I am deeply biased toward my mother,” she said. “I couldn’t image a better mother or grandmother for my children, or a better president for them.”
Clinton took what seemed to be a swipe at the GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump.
“I never thought I would ever see the normalization of hate speech as spoken by the Republicans,” she said.
She spoke easily, with good humor, sitting all the while. She asked if there were any questions, stories to be shared, or parenting advice. When she went to vote for her mother, she said, she brought her 19-month daughter along with her. Someone from the audience asked what her father would be called if her mother won the White House: first gentleman?
“We don’t know what my dad will be called,” Clinton said. “He said he would focus on the economy and any aspect of foreign affairs he would be asked to do, like he did with Bush and Obama.”
Her father had worked very hard with the Irish peace process, she said, and would continue in that capacity. But he had no sense of style so would not be giving out his opinion about fashion, unlike current first lady Michelle Obama.
Clinton said her mother would like to see educational debt automatically absolved if the person with the loan entered certain careers in public service, such as a police officer or teacher.
She took a question from a girl in the audience. The girl turned out to be the daughter of Pomares. Her name is Felicita.
Felicita asked Clinton if her mother would do something about the high cost of education.
Clinton was amazed the question was coming from one so young and asked in what grade was she. Felicita said second grade.
“When I was in second grade, what I was thinking about was the next book I wanted to read,” Clinton said.
She was asked if there could be a constitutional amendment for fair housing. Clinton said she had never been asked that question and wanted the person’s email address in order to respond.
“I don’t know the answer and I don’t answer questions I don’t know the answer to,” she said. “I don’t think anyone should.”
The audience laughed at this. But Clinton became serious again.
“It is currently legal to pay under the minimum wage to people with a disability,” she said. “All people should be treated equally.
Pomares, at an event the following day, said his daughter was mentioned in a Chelsea Tweet.
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