After a week of ongoing speculation and questions as to when and where Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton might speak in Madison, the campaign has finally answered. The New York senator will be holding a "Solutions for America" rally from 5-8:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 17 at Monona Terrace.
This rally follows appearances in town by Chelsea Clinton at the UW Memorial Union on Monday, and Bill Clinton at the UW Stock Pavilion on Thursday. It also follows a much larger rally for Barack Obama at the Kohl Center on Tuesday, where the Illinois senator delivered a victory speech following his latest in a string of primary wins following Super Tuesday.
This visit by Hillary Clinton, along with those by her husband and daughter, are central to the candidate's efforts to reverse a perceived shift in momentum in favor of the Obama campaign before the primary on Tuesday, February 19. This is borne out by the most recent polling in Wisconsin. As reported by WisPolitics, polls conducted by Rassmussen Reports and WISC-TV each have Obama ahead of Clinton by several points, though both leads remain within the margin of error.
While Clinton herself has been focusing more closely this week on major primary in Ohio and Texas that follow Wisconsin's by two weeks, she will be spending the final three days before the vote in this state next week. In addition to Madison, she is currently scheduled to make public appearances in De Pere, Racine, and Eau Claire on Sunday and Monday. All stops will follow biggest event of the weekend for the presidential race for one party, that being the RSVP to the event. There may be rough travel, though, as meteorologists are forecasting an 80% chance of 4-8 or more inches of snow on Sunday and on into Monday morning. Will this slow her supporters? As declared by the Clinton campaign: "We know that Hillary has the strength and experience to lead on day one, and we need to reach out to as many voters as we can in Wisconsin and tell them about her vision for the country."