Election 2016: Bill Clinton on campaign trail in Pomona

POMONA >> The 42nd President of the United States was on the campaign trail Saturday, hoping to help his wife become the 45th.

“If you look around this crowd, you represent one vision of America’s future, in all your diversity,” Bill Clinton told a crowd of hundreds at Ganesha High School in Pomona. “We can all honor our diversity because we believe our shared humanity is most important.”

Republicans want something very different, he said: “The other vision out there is ‘no, no, no, you don’t understand, what we need is a wall.’ ”

The evocation of Republican candidate Donald Trump’s promise to build a wall along the United States’ border with Mexico drew boos from the crowd.

“Do you hear that sound?” Eric Bauman, the vice-chairman of the Califoia Democratic Party and the Chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, asked the crowd. “That’s the sound of glass cracking — the final glass ceiling is cracking!”

A diverse crowd of supporters stood on the artificial turf of the school’s quad, wearing carpenters and teachers union shirts. Members of the Black Student Union from Diamond Ranch High School wore black T-shirts with #woke on the back.

The former president said, should she be elected, Hillary Clinton would take steps to make college more affordable and help those burdened by student debt pay it off more easily.

He also said more work remains to be done for women’s and LGBT rights — “Paid leave, equal pay, affordable childcare.” — as well as rights for the disabled.

“Nobody should be denied the right to be part of our shared future. Bridges, not walls,” Bill Clinton said, again evoking Trump’s proposed wall. “We have got to build a world that we can all live in.”

He also addressed the attacks Hillary Clinton has faced, both on the right and left.

“Never underestimate your adversary. Never, ever, ever. If they’re dumb, you’ll win anyway,” Bill Clinton said.

The GOP’s attacks against Hillary Clinton were rational, he said, “because they’re scared of ruing against her.”

But he also said attacks from the left wing of the Democratic party are off-base, saying Clinton’s support from unions and other traditional Democratic groups “doesn’t make you an establishment candidate — it means they trust you to make change.”

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Protestors apparently supporting Democratic rival Beie Sanders briefly disrupted Bill Clinton’s speech, waving signs that read “I’m NOT with her” and “#FueraHillary.”

“This is not a Donald Trump rally,” he said, as security guards escorted the protestors out. “We welcome conversation.”

Bill Clinton also played up his wife’s bipartisan record during her eight years in the Senate, including pushing for body armor for soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and better health care for veterans, along with tax breaks for those who adopt foster children.

“She’s the only candidate you can elect who can defeat Washington gridlock,” he said.

The would-be First Husband’s visit to Pomona is part of a wave of presidential primary attention that Califoians are mostly unused to. With Sanders still in the race, the candidates and their surrogates are making repeated trips to the Golden State in advance of the June 7 Democratic primary.

Sanders made a surprise visit to Palm Springs earlier this week, and both Hillary Clinton and Sanders are scheduled to visit Southe Califoia on Tuesday, with Clinton visiting UC Riverside and Sanders visiting Irvine, Anaheim, Riverside and San Beardino.

Hillary Clinton currently has 1,768 pledged delegates to Sanders’ 1,494. Clinton also commands a lopsided number of superdelegates —party insiders and elected officials, including Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Beardino, who’s among Hillary Clinton’s pledged delegates. Hillary Clinton has 525 such delegates, while Sanders has 39. Democratic primary candidates need a total of 2,293 delegates to secure the nomination. A total of 548 delegates are available in Califoia’s primary, more than all of the other states’ remaining delegates, combined.

Hillary Clinton leads Sanders by approximately 2.9 million votes cast during the 2016 primary season so far.

Statistical analysis website FiveThirtyEight predicts an 85 percent chance that Hillary Clinton will beat Sanders in Califoia, based on polls taken through Friday. Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, there will be a “Stump for Trump” rally in Mentone on Tuesday, in support of Trump, who is now the lone Republican seeking the GOP nomination for president.

Despite those numbers, the former president said Hillary Clinton supporters shouldn’t relax.

“We’ve got to keep this thing going until the end,” he said. “You don’t stop the marathon on the last lap.”

He urged those assembled at Ganesha High to take action.

“I ask you: Advance voting is starting. Vote in advance. Get your friends to vote,” Bill Clinton said. “Don’t pretend it doesn’t matter.”