Democrats, GOP gearing up for Tuesday contests
Candidates hold rallies, take part in town halls
Three presidential candidates left nothing to chance Monday, crossing Michigan in search of Tuesday’s most precious commodity— votes.
On the Republican side, Ohio Gov. John Kasich held town hall forums in Monroe and Grosse Pointe Woods and finished the evening with a speech at the Oakland County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner in Troy.
After skipping visits to Michigan since last fall, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz scheduled a last- minute rally in Grand Rapids on Monday night. He has a large grass- roots organization and thousands of volunteers in the state, but the Cruz campaign has been the only one that hasn’t been advertising in Michigan.
Fresh off their nationally televised debate in Flint on Sunday night, Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders traversed Michigan to convince voters that their policies were better than those of their opponents.
Sanders, the U. S. senator from Vermont, held rallies in Kalamazoo, Dearborn and Ann Arbor, while Clinton, the former secretary of State, visited a software company in Grand Rapids and attended a rally in Detroit.
Both appeared in a town hall forum hosted by Fox News in Detroit, although they weren’t on the stage at the Gem Theater at the same time.
All of the candidates played it safe, sticking to familiar campaign themes and urging voters to head to the polls.
“Politics and democracy mean every single one of us has to be actively involved,” Sanders said at the Michael A. Guido Theatre in Dearborn. “If there is a large voter turnout, we will win.”
Later, at the Fox News- hosted town hall meeting, Sanders talked about his economic polices and pushed for a $ 15an- hour minimum wage. He argued for $ 1 trillion to be spent over five years improving the nation’s infrastructure, citing the water crisis in Flint.
During the second half of the town hall event, Clinton was asked by Fox News host Bret Baier whether she might consider Sanders as a running mate.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she said. Still, during a rally at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History after the town hall, Clinton sounded more like a general election candidate. She didn’t mention Sanders once, instead focusing on the Republicans, especially New York businessman Donald Trump.
“I will do everything I can to keep America safe. And I know that among the most important people to help do that are our Muslim- American friends. And when you hear the kind of bigotry ... from the Republican side … it’s not only insulting, it’s dangerous,” she said, referring to statements by Trump, who wants to ban some Muslims from America.