Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Will Van Eaton Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) speaks about labor issues and the economy at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel Ballroom. [Click to enlarge]

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Rocky Balboa have a lot in common - or so she said during a speech in Center City yesterday morning.

Responding to recent pressure to drop out of the race, Clinton used the famous scene at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as an analogy for her continued fight for the nomination.

"Could you imagine if Rocky Balboa had gotten halfway up those Art Museum steps and said, 'Well, I guess that's about far enough?'" she said.

"Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing the fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common," Clinton continued. "I never quit. I never give up."

Clinton delivered her address at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Convention and focused largely on economic issues, particularly the creation of new jobs for Americans and other labor issues.

The speech represented Clinton's need to keep her lead in Pennsylvania with an important demographic in the state - the working class.

"If anyone asks me if labor will have a seat at the table in the White House, the answer is yes," Clinton said. "Labor built the table."

Although Clinton is still significantly ahead of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama - who will speak at the AFL-CIO Convention today - in Pennsylvania polls, her lead has narrowed in the past few days.

In her speech yesterday, Clinton proposed a plan to create three million jobs in infrastructure nationwide over the next 10 years.

Clinton's economic plans also included a $10 billion Emergency Repair Fund, as well as a $1.5 billion annual increase in federal funding for public transportation.

Besides criticizing Obama, Clinton also attacked Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee

"Senator McCain is only offering more of the same," she said, referring to the Bush administration.

Clinton also spoke about Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who recently endorsed Obama and also appeared at the convention earlier yesterday morning.

"I know Senator Casey was here, and I'm looking forward to inviting him to the White House," she said.

But despite the serious subject matter of her speech, Clinton was not without April Fool's spirit.

Speaking with the press directly following the speech, Clinton entered looking somber.

"This has been a very hard-fought race," she said. "We need to do something so that our party and our people can make the right decision."

She then said she had a solution to the problem - but it wasn't dropping out. Clinton announced that she challenged Obama to a bowl-off here in Pennsylvania.

Over laughs from the press, she said a bowl-off would give the Obama campaign a chance to "get out of the gutter and allow the pins to be counted."

"When this game is over, the American people will know when that phone rings at 3 a.m. they'll have a President who's ready to bowl on day one," Clinton said.

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