1 of 12

Write now Article Tools

Hillary Clinton's appeal to the "blue collar" vote is her fierce determination and indefatigable support of causes dear to the heart of the working class: rising fuel prices, housing costs, education, college affordability, affordable health insurance, and the support of labor unions.

She has spent a life time supporting the causes of the middle class, especially the cause of universal health care. Since 2001, she has been fighting for many causes to improve education, provide better health care for our service men and women returning from Iraq, save the homes of people victim of risky mortgage loans, assure that every vote gets counted and has a paper trail, improve economic security of retirees, strengthen unions' rights to negotiate for fair wages and secure working conditions, and many other causes.

She serves on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Special Committee on Aging, and is the first New Yorker to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. In 2004, she was asked by the Department of Defense to serve on the Transformation Advisory Group to Joint Forces Command and is the only Senate member to do so.

Her attendance to her duties as Senator have been consistently excellent with more missed votes during the last quarter of 2007, but her attendance record is better than Barack Obama's.

Hillary has shown her supporters that she is not afraid of a challenge. She has picked herself up and forged ahead even when many people were asking her to throw in the towel.
This woman is a fighter and blue collar workers respect that and can identify. She listens when people tell her of their personal struggles. Then she gets to work to finding solutions. Once she gets started, she doesn't give up.

The question is: Are Americans ready for a woman with that much drive and chutzpah? Some people are turned off by her aggressiveness. That same aggressiveness would be an asset to a man, but some Americans don't like women fighting like a man for what they believe. This may be a problem to some blue collar workers who still have traditional beliefs about women's roles. They still debate about whether or not women should serve in the armed forces. Also, in some ways the sins of her husband are damaging her campaign as people look back with disgust and embarrassment on the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

If voters look at the plans and policies of each Democratic candidate, they will see similarities in almost every policy.

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about US elections 2008: Assessing Hillary Clinton's appeal to the "blue collar" vote?
We want to hear your view. Write now!