By Colter Hettich, Features Editor
Former President Bill Clinton addressed an Abilene crowd Sunday night in the Abilene Aero hangar. The former president campaigned non-stop throughout the weekend for his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton; he visited five cities on Sunday, Abilene being the fifth.
Until Sunday night, a president or former president had not visited Abilene since Jimmy Carter made a stop in 1980.
But a storm cell outside of Abilene caused officials to push back Clinton’s initially scheduled arrival time of 8:15 p.m., keeping Clinton “in Texas skies” and dodging Texas storms. After allowing several hundred people to enter, security closed the gated entrance because of dangerous, excessive lightning; not long after that rain began to pour.
The line of Hillary supporters quickly dissipated, leaving only the dedicated to brave the elements. Those who withstood the 10-minute downpour entered less than a half hour later.
Michael Roberts, senior political science major from Boerne, made it into the hangar before the rain but was impressed with those who were not so fortunate.
“I thought there would be a sizeable turnout, but I had no idea that many people would show up,” Roberts said. “That shows some dedication too, people coming in sopping wet.”
Two hours and fifteen minutes after the scheduled commencement, the crowd was informed that the former president’s plane had landed. In a matter of minutes, Clinton entered the hangar, but with an unexpected guest.
Golden Globe-nominated actress Ashley Judd accompanied Clinton and made a few remarks before introducing the headlining speaker of the rally.
The former president, whom Judd repeatedly deemed “a romantic,” spoke to his Abilenenian audience on a variety of issues.
He made a point to explain the unique democratic primary and caucus voting systems in Texas. The primary ends at 7 p.m. Tuesday, and the 8,000 precinct conventions, which are worth 35 percent of the delegates in Texas, open at 7:15 p.m.
“Don’t you think your country’s future is worth voting twice?” Clinton said.
On healthcare, he strongly stated that “You cannot get control of healthcare unless you cover everyone … We can’t fix this unless we’re all prepared to be in the system.”
Clinton appealed to the significant number of university students in the crowd by addressing student loans. He stressed the importance that students understand their right to finance their loans, so they only have to pay a small amount of their income over a longer period of time.
“You are in control of your own destiny,” he said.
The crowd responded with a deafening applause.
