Former first daughter stumps for her mother

EDINBURG — Chelsea Clinton briefly rallied hundreds of her mother’s supporters Saturday, urging them to vote early and caucus on primary day.

Speaking for just over two minutes under the glaring midday sun, the former first daughter commended U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s performance in last week’s debate in Austin against rival Barack Obama and said the Rio Grande Valley could help her mother win the Democratic presidential nomination.

“I’m so jealous you in Texas get to vote twice,” Clinton said about the popular vote primary and the Democratic caucuses on March 4. “This is Clinton Country.”

Under Texas’ Democratic primary-caucus system, those who vote in the primary are invited to attend their precinct’s caucus and have a say in how 67 of the state’s 193 pledged delegates who go to the Democratic National Convention in August will vote.

Standing in the bed of a pickup truck near an early voting station, Chelsea Clinton reiterated her mother’s familiar campaign themes of improving public schools, providing universal healthcare and bringing the troops home from Iraq.

Texas is a must-win for Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., as she trails Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, by 96 delegates, according to the latest Associated Press count. It takes 2,025 delegate votes to win the Democratic nomination.

A Hillary Clinton win on March 4 in both Texas and Ohio could catapult her to frontrunner status and stem the Obama surge.

The senior Clinton rallied her faithful here in the Rio Grande Valley twice in as many weeks and is counting on the historic support she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have enjoyed in this region. Obama, trying to capitalize on a recent surge of Hispanic support, spoke Friday at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg.

John Kerry, the junior senator from Massachusetts and 2004 Democratic nominee for president, stumped for Obama in Brownsville on Saturday.

Here in Edinburg on Saturday, Hillary Clinton supporters gathered hours before her daughter made her appearance, staking out spots in the shade afforded by the law offices of Ramon Garcia.

Tejano music and a mariachi band entertained the gathering crowd. Some of the spectators who lined Closner Boulevard for the Fiesta Edinburg Parade wandered over to the rally as a cloud of sweet barbecue wafted across the parking lot.

Despite 11 straight primary losses for Hillary Clinton, some supporters said they were undaunted. Others seemed to contemplate an Obama victory and spoke of him in conciliatory terms.

“We can pull it off — we’re in Texas,” said Garcia, who hosted the event in the parking lot of his office and is a longtime Clinton supporter. “So goes the Valley, so goes Texas.”

Mercedes Municipal Judge Jesse Contreras, who was seen at campaign rallies for both candidates last week, said he was happy that Democrats have two good choices this year.

“You have two strong candidates,” he said. “It’s a win-win.”

Others, however, including Antonia Medellin, a teacher in the Donna school district, said that while Obama isn’t a bad candidate, Hillary Clinton’s involvement in the political battles in the White House and Congress gives her experience Obama is lacking.

“I have dreams still about how great my classroom is going to work,” she said, mocking Obama’s campaign theme of making drastic change. “I wake up and it doesn’t happen.”

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Sean Gaffney covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.