Thursday, August 07, 2014

Bill Clinton subtly questions Obama rural policies, to separate president and Senate candidate

Former President Bill Clinton indirectly questioned President Obama's commitment to rural America as he tried to put some distance between the president and the Democratic challenger to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.

Clinton told a crowd in Hazard, "We have not done anything meaningful for rural America since the New Markets Tax Credit" in 1999, when he last visited the Eastern Kentucky town. He said likewise in Lexington, at a fund-raiser for Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.

"President Obama would likely disagree," Rural Blog Publisher Al Cross writes on the Senate-race blog he maintains with his University of Kentucky students. "Last month the White House announced creation of a $10 billion investment fund for rural development, and the administration has recently taken steps to make parts of Eastern Kentucky more eligible for federal aid." McConnell has campaigned less against Grimes than Obama, who is unpopular in the state, especially its two coalfields, due to his anti-coal policies. (Read more)

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