McAuliffe to campaign for Hillary Clinton in Iowa
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Version 0 of 1. RICHMOND — Fresh off a trade mission to Cuba, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will hit the stump in Iowa for Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. McAuliffe will rally Iowans on Saturday and Sunday in Clinton campaign offices in six cities: Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Carroll, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. The swing comes about three weeks before the first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa on Feb. 1, followed by contests New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Virginians go to the polls on Super Tuesday, March 1, with voters in many other states. The governor, who has been close with President Bill Clinton and the former secretary of state for decades, has lent his fundraising prowess to her campaign. He is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and was chairman of her unsuccessful 2008 White House bid. [McAuliffe going far for Hillary Clinton, but it could be problematic at home] Republicans have questioned how McAuliffe can govern and work with the GOP-controlled legislature while trying to deliver the state for his friend. The “chief cheerleader for Hillary Clinton” should be “at home working on the issues facing the commonwealth” instead of on the campaign trail, said John Whitbeck, chairman of the Virginia Republican Party. “We all knew this was going to happen when 2016 came around. Governor McAuliffe’s term has never been about Virginia, but rather getting Hillary Clinton elected,” he said. The trip is scheduled for a few days before McAuliffe is set to give his annual State of the Commonwealth address on the first day of the General Assembly session, Jan. 13. McAuliffe will speak “about what’s at stake in this election and why Hillary Clinton is the fighter Iowa families need in the White House,” according to the Clinton campaign. |