by Nick Castele
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both took their campaigns to Northeast Ohio this Labor Day, making their pitches here in the final two months before the election.
Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine took the stage at Luke Easter Park on Cleveland’s east side, to a crowd the campaign counted at 3,000. Their rally was the culmination of the city’s annual Labor Day parade, and introducing them were two national union leaders, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and AFSCME President Lee Saunders.
“I’m not taking anybody anywhere for granted,” Clinton said. “That’s why we’re here today, because we need your help. We need to make sure we have an election that validates the kind of positive future that will make life better for the people of Ohio. And empty promises and racist attacks won’t do that.”
Clinton criticized Donald Trump throughout their remarks, speaking in a hoarse voice after a bout of coughing. She said his recent visit to Mexico led to “an embarrassing international incident.”
She said she and Kaine would outline their plans for office in a book being released this week.
“We want to win it so we can take all the plans and all the ideas that will improve your lives, that will get the economy working for everybody, not just those at the top, which will help make education affordable so college is within reach of everyone,” she said.
Meanwhile Trump paid a visit to Brook Park with little prior notice. He spoke to several union members and the suburb’s mayor, Tom Coyne. A longtime Democrat, Coyne won election in 2013 as an independent before throwing his support behind Trump.
Trump told the group that the country, in terms of jobs, is “going to hell.”
“Even the other side admits that the jobs we have are bad jobs,” Trump said. “They’re not the good jobs that you people used to have in Ohio and other places.”
Also at the event was Cleveland police patrolmen’s association president Steve Loomis. According to the pool report, Trump told him, “You’re going to have a friend in the White House.”
