Stumping in Odessa

Former President Bill Clinton’s message was clear Thursday in an enthusiastic speech promoting his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

Vote for Hillary Clinton based on her experience, her vision and her solutions to make change, he said.

Be sure to vote both in the primary for her and in the Democratic caucus after the polls close March 4, he said to about 1,000 people outside Odessa College’s Jack Rodgers Fine Arts Center.

And vote early.

“The vote in Texas and the vote in Ohio will determine the nominee of the Democratic Party,” Clinton said. “I bet you’re proud of that …

“It’s all up to you.”

Dixie Sletten followed the advice in Clinton’s 37-minute message given from the bed of a baby blue 1959 Ford pickup.

As the president was shaking hands with awestruck West Texans, Sletten with her husband, John, and 22-year-old daughter, Johnna, walked about a quarter mile across the Odessa College campus to the closest early voting booths located inside the college’s athletic facility.

“They’ve been inspiring me ever since he was president,” Dixie Sletten said of Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and her husband.

Dixie already had her mind made up to vote for Hillary, but President Clinton’s speech inspired her.

“Nobody comes to Odessa, and here he is,” Sletten said. “Does that mean something to me? Darn right, it does.”

Hillary Clinton is in a serious battle for the Democratic nomination with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. National pundits consider the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio crucial to either candidate’s success.

Considering that, both campaigns have worn out Texas with rallies, speeches and a debate Thursday night in Austin. The campaigns are making stops in places like Odessa that rarely if ever see candidates.

And so there was President Clinton attempting to inspire voters to support his wife, because she needs every ballot.

President Clinton arrived about 90 minutes late, but the band El Mariachi Aguila entertained the crowd. The band’s lead singer, Juanita Jaquez, changed the words to a traditional mariachi to reflect support to Hillary Clinton.

“She’s the best,” she sang in Spanish to the tune of “El Rancho Grande.” “She’s going to be president. She’s going to beat Obama.”

Once President Clinton appeared, he touted Sen. Clinton’s bipartisan leadership, her healthcare plan, her pragmatic plan to end the war in Iraq, her education reform policy and her strategy to make the United States independent of foreign energy.

“We have to have one, the right vision; two, the right solution; and three, a change-maker as president that can actually make change happen in other people’s lives,” President Clinton said.

Texans can vote in the primary but also can show up at their precinct’s post-primary caucus and vote for their candidate a second time. The primary accounts for 65 percent of Texas’ delegates, and the caucus is 35 percent of the delegates.

“If you are really for Hillary you have to go twice because you don’t want her to lose at night what she won in the daytime,” President Clinton said.

If Sen. Clinton can win Texas and Ohio, then President Clinton said he believes she can win Pennsylvania and North Carolina, two remaining high-population states that could help determine the Democratic nomination.

Marsha Cooper, 51, hadn’t voted before Clinton spoke, but she said afterward that she planned to return immediately to Midland where she lives and enter a voting booth. Like many in the crowd, she was already a Hillary Clinton supporter, but she was politically motivated after President Clinton’s appearance.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ron Paul supporters were converted today,” Cooper said referring to the small faction holding signs in favor of the Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate with Libertarian leanings.

Ector County Democratic Party Chair John Wilkins called it a terrific day for Odessa because a former president visited the community. The visit showed, he said, that West Texas does matter to the political process when in previous elections the area hasn’t been considered crucial to national success.

“It’s a historic day,” Wilkins said. “If you agree with his politics or not.”