As Ohio goes down to the home stretch a week before Election Day, two candidate surrogates came to Columbus to appeal to younger voters. Statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles was at both the speech by President Obama and the visit by the son of Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump.
Just hours before the sixth game of the World Series being played in Cleveland, President Obama did a little pitching of his own to more than 5,800 voters at Capital University, a small private college just east of downtown Columbus.
“I’m not on the ballot this time, Ohio (crowd sounds disappointed) but progress is on the ballot, fairness is on the ballot, decency is on the ballot, justice is on the ballot, our democracy is on the ballot, America is on the ballot, Hillary Clinton is on the ballot.”
Obama told the crowd Clinton would continue his policies. Rodney Sutton of Columbus says that’s important to him.
“I believe she will continue the agenda of President Obama and that’s what we need in this country. We need to move forward with what is already set in place and I believe she is the best candidate to move us forward.”
Noni Dupriest of Columbus, a former Bernie Sanders supporter, says she’s already cast her ballot for Clinton, even though she admits she hasn’t voted for her in the past. Dupriest says she hasn’t been dissuaded by questions about Clinton’s emails.
“Yea she may have made a mistake, she admits she made a mistake but it’s not the ongoing thing that Donald Trump is doing.”
Not long after Obama finished his speech, the son of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was speaking to a smaller group at a bigger venue - Ohio State University. Donald Trump Jr. had a different pitch. He says his dad wants to fix President Obama’s failed policies.
“The only thing that matters is we have to fix America. We have to give it a chance.”
That’s a message that resonates with Cameron Hunt of Hilliard.
“He’s going to build the wall, he’s going to make us all safe, he’s going to bring prosperity back to the United States, he’s going to make us first in the world and not last or close to the last like Obama wishes we were. He’s going to make us proud to be Americans and that’s why I’ll vote for him.”
Melissa Yen from Shaker Heights says she’s already voted for Trump because she doesn’t think Clinton is honest.
“I just think we don’t need a corrupt politician in the White House. We need someone who can run this country like a business and is proud of our country and how powerful we are and should keep it that way (interrupted by chant of “lock her up….fade under)
The crowd chanted “lock her up”, referring to Clinton, who many in this group think has committed crimes through the way she handled email as Secretary of State. Both Clinton and Trump have been in Ohio during the past couple of days, and they're expected to be in Ohio again before Election Day.
