FARAI CHIDEYA, host:
From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.
Tomorrow, South Carolina's voters go to the polls for the Democratic primary. African-Americans are expected to be nearly half of those voters. And today, we bring you our last live show from South Carolina. We also give you a double dose of presidential politics.
Yesterday, we heard from Senator Barack Obama. Today, we bring you the two other top candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination. Shortly, we'll hear from Senator John Edwards, a South Carolina native. But first, Senator Hillary Clinton, who we spoke with earlier today.
Hi, senator. How are you doing?
Senator HILLARY CLINTON (Democrat, New York; Presidential Candidate): I'm great. How are you?
CHIDEYA: I'm doing great. So your two major competitors in this race have come to symbolize certain things. Senator Edwards paints himself as the candidate who's going to end poverty and Senator Obama's supporters say he's the candidate of change. So what do you symbolize?
Sen. CLINTON: Well, I think that I'm the candidate with the experience we need to make the changes we want. I don't think there is an either or here. That's a false choice. We have to look at each of us and what we represent and what we have done in our lives and what we believe we can do as the next president.
So I have a record of taking on tough issues, of fighting against the special interests, of standing up against the health insurance companies and the drug companies and the oil companies and all the rest of it. But I've also produced positive change.
CHIDEYA: During your husband's term in office, you championed a comprehensive health care plan and Republicans quickly shot it down. So a lot of analysts said the problem wasn't the plan itself but that you didn't get bipartisan support. Now, when you were a first-term senator, you made a point of joining an all-Republican prayer group. Are you careful to be bipartisan because of what you learned from the health care debate?
Sen. CLINTON: Well, first of all, it is a bipartisan prayer group. It's very important for me to set the record straight on that because it's something that is extremely important to a number of senators. It's a time when people can get behind closed doors and, you know, talk openly and pray together, and I have been there sometimes. And so it's a real blessing.
But I think it's important to recognize that in our system, bipartisanship is essential particularly in the Senate to get anything done. And I think it's important too to recognize that that's exactly what I'd do, I've done over the last seven years and even before that. Because I really believe that we have to look for solutions. These are not Democratic or Republican solutions. These are the kinds of American solutions that I think our people are really hungering for.
And I have joined together with some unlikely allies. You know, here in South Carolina, I joined up with Senator Lindsey Graham to provide access to health care for the National Guard and Reserve members, and now, more than 9,000 members right here in South Carolina are eligible for something they didn't have before we put together a bipartisan piece of legislation and pushed it through over a threat of a veto from President Bush.
CHIDEYA: Now, various times during this campaign, you've been criticized for being too tough, or in the case when you got choked up in New Hampshire, for being too sensitive. How do you actually navigate the different expectations that people have of a woman leader?
Sen. CLINTON: That is such a great question, Farai, because that's what I'm doing. And I'm doing it out here in public, kind of on a high wire, trying to strike the right balance. You know, I can only be myself and you know, I am a serious person, and I think these are serious times and deserve serious leadership.
But I'm also - I hate to admit it - a human being, with all of the feelings and experiences and, you know, real hopes and dreams for myself and my family and my country that I think every one of us have. And I have really been just doing the best I can in this very long intense campaign to talk about what I want to do as president because ultimately this election isn't about me. It's not about any of the candidates. It's about, you know, what we're going to do for your listeners, what we're going to do to help people.
You know, I'm going to Benedict College later this morning to talk about making colleges affordable. This is a huge problem around the country and it's especially tough here in South Carolina. So, you know, I'm going to stay focused on what the job is and how I can do the job, but I do understand why people want to, you know, know more about me as a person.
They may not know that 35 years ago I went to work for a South Carolina native, Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund and have been, you know, focused on improving the lives of our children ever since.
CHIDEYA: We actually spoke with actress Victoria Rowell. She's written a best-selling book about growing up in the foster care system. She's stumping for you…
Sen. CLINTON: Isn't she wonderful?
CHIDEYA: Absolutely. And, you know, she talked about your commitment, not just with Marian Wright Edelman, but providing free legal services in child abuse cases when you were getting your law degree at Yale. Why is this kind of work so important to you?
Sen. CLINTON: I think that it initially was important because my mother had such a very difficult life. And you know what? If she had been born in a later time, I believe that she probably would have been put into the foster care system because her parents essentially abandoned her and her grandparents were very unwelcoming, and basically she had to leave their home when she was 13 to go to work in someone else's home just to be able to have a safe place to live and try to, you know, be able to make some way in her life. They let her take care of their children but she had to get up and get the other children off to school, and they let her go to high school.
So, you know, I really saw it at a very early age that despite my comfortable, secure upbringing in my family, that wasn't the case for so many children. And it just became the cause of my passion and commitment here in public service, to do what I can to give every child the chance to live up to his or her God-given potential.
CHIDEYA: We spoke to Senator Obama yesterday and asked him if he thought the remarks by you husband, President Clinton, were really about race. And Senator Obama said no. So why do you think so many people, including some of our listeners, saw race in those comments?
Sen. CLINTON: I don't know but I obviously deeply regret that because that's not at all the case, and I think that, you know, both Senator Obama and I have made that clear. We have tried to make this race about two individuals. It's wonderful and it's celebratory that, you know, one is African-American and one is a woman. That's a great tribute to the Democratic Party and to our country. But we know we're running as individuals. You know, we want this race to be about us, what we represent, what we plan for the future, our plans for the economy and for health care and for college affordability and all of the other issues that people talk to me about.
So we have both said repeatedly that, you know, this is not about race and it's not about gender. Obviously, we know we represent that in many people's minds. But at the end of the day, we want voters to choose who they believe will be the best president.
CHIDEYA: Well, senator, we certainly hope that you will join us again on NEWS & NOTES.
Sen. CLINTON: I would very much enjoy that. Thank you so much for talking with me.
CHIDEYA: Thank you.
Sen. CLINTON: Take care. Bye-bye.
CHIDEYA: Senator Hillary Clinton is one of the front-runners in the Democratic race for the White House. She joined us by phone while campaigning in South Carolina
Copyright © 2008 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.