One of those in Quicken Loans Arena a week ago to hear the Republican Party nominate Donald Trump for president was Amanda Renteria, Hillary Clinton’s national political director. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze spoke with Renteria in Cleveland about the differences she sees in the presidential race that others might miss.
Amanda Renteria was in the Q being interviewed when the New York delegation delivered the GOP nomination to Donald Trump. She acknowledged the next day, the experience was a bit surreal.
“For someone like me that is her national political director, is Latina and is a woman, it was a kind of an interesting place to be.”
Our job is to make sure people really know who she is.
Polls in Ohio show the race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is a tight one. Renteria says that’s partly because elections in America often are close.
Early in the campaign
“Our country in general, presidential race, is always going to be tight, it’s always been tight. … And then I think second is, I like to think that we’ve got to go on a journey where you see these two alternatives, and we’re very, very early in that piece of the campaign.”
She says there are a lot of undecided, and that’s where the campaign will focus.
“You have a candidate like Hillary Clinton who is the most famous, least well-known person really across the country. … I think a lot of people think they know who she is. And then you start talking about that she went to the Children’s Defense Fund, that she was registering voters … what she did for 9/11 right after that happened in the state of New York.
“So our job is to make sure people really know who she is.”
Likewise, she said Trump has a big image, but people don’t know much about the details, “so I think at the moment where we are in time, people really don’t’ know either of these people very well.””
Tough places for the Clinton message
Renteria acknowledged Clinton has a tough campaign in places like southeast Ohio and West Virginia, where many see her as an enemy of coal that is woven into their history, economy and culture.
“A lot of people talk about her trip to West Virginia. She talks a lot about her trip to West Virginia. When she decided to go, she knew she was going to a very tough place, and in fact told many of us: ‘I know I might not turn one vote here, but it’s really important that people know I’m working for them, too. And I want to figure out: How do we answer these very tough questions that we’re having as a country.'
“And I know her answer would be, 'Join us, let’s talk about this; let’s work on what is the solution to either what’s the next job or how do we make sure you’re still taking care of your family or how do we show what an incredible part what you brought to this country was for all of us."
“There’s not a lot of people I would argue who go into that kind of experience in the heart and the heat of your primary – knowing you’re not likely to get one vote out of there, but you’re still going to go and try to earn it as best you can.”
Renteria expects much of the campaign this fall will come down grass roots efforts over a sustained period, not larger-than-life shows like the conventions.
“They might hear us talk about the issues, see the debates, they might see the conventions,” she said. But what matters is, “Are you brining in leaders to come in and empower a community, are you going door-to-door and explaining why this election is so important.”
