By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) essentially tied in Iowa with Mrs. Clinton getting the technical victory from a series of fortuitous coin tosses. Senator Sanders is expected to win Tuesday’s New Hampshire Primary because the small New England state borders Sanders’ Vermont. Sec. Clinton is hoping to cut into Sen. Sanders lead in New Hampshire while preparing to launch her own southern strategy.
With that in mind, the Hillary for Alabama campaign is opening their Birmingham Office on Saturday. State Senator Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham) and State Representative Merika Coleman-Evans (D-Birmingham) will emphasize why Alabama voters should support Hillary Clinton in the state’s March 1primary. Both Sen. Smitherman and Rep. Coleman-Evans are members of Clinton’s Alabama Leadership Council. They will host a volunteer phone bank to call Alabamians on behalf of Clinton’s campaign. Sen. Smitherman and Rep. Coleman-Evans will discuss the need for early voting in Alabama and how Hillary Clinton’s plan for nationwide early voting of at least 20 days would enact it.
The campaign headquarters will be at: 2013 1st Avenue North, Birmingham, AL.
Hillary Clinton has continued her series of Get Out the Vote organizing events with a stops in Manchester and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Alabama’s own Lilly Ledbetter will join Secretary Clinton at the stop in Manchester on Friday. They will be joined by EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock, and Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Kirsten Gillibrand, Barbara Mikulski, Amy Klobuchar, and Debbie Stabenow.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it much easier to litigate cases of alleged employment discrimination, is named for Lilly Ledbetter. Mrs. Ledbetter alleges that she made less money than male colleagues at the Goodyear tire factory in Gadsden, AL despite performing the same work. Ledbetter’s claim was ultimately rejected by the courts because she did not bring her lawsuit to court in a timely manner. Ledbetter claims that she could not have sued decades earlier because she did not know at the time that many of her male counterparts had received higher performance raises than she had received.
The Alabama Presidential Primary will be on March 1.
