This is a candidate-supporter diary
Seniors are our parents, our grandparents, in some blogger's cases, they are seniors themselves.
Social security funds, which should be in a lockbox, have been raided time and again to pay for other "emergencies," and now we are told that Social Security is in a crisis, that it won't be solvent after 2040, that it needs fixing. Prescription drug benefits are a major issue, as are other health related issue like full access to Medicare, stem cell research and other related issues.
Against that backdrop, let's look at some of the reasons why seniors are Hillary Clinton's strongest demographic, the group that gives Clinton her most lopsided support. Let's also look why seniors are absolutely crucial for the upcoming elections (both primaries/caucuses and the general election.)
SENIORS AND THEIR HISTORIC ROLE IN ELECTIONS
Individuals 55 years of age and over are the most prolific voters. Ergo, that age group makes the most important voter block to any politician.
http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Politi cs/4-10-28SeniorVote.htm
Almost 70% of all seniors cast votes in a general election. In the rest of the population the percentage is below 50%.
When it comes to primaries and caucuses, the share of the "older" vote is incredibly high. A full 64% of Iowa caucus voters in 2004 were 55 years of age or older. Almost TWO-THIRDS of all Iowa caucus voters are over 55 years of age. In the New Hampshire's primary, the 55 or older population makes up over 50% of all voters. If you win a lionshare of that vote, you win the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, naturally. Not to speak of the Florida primary and all the other primaries which show a share of over 50% in the over-55 demogroup.
Clinton's strongest support in basically all the polls we have seen comes from the 55 and over demographic, the one group that consistently shows up to vote in caucuses, primaries, general elections, rain or shine.
WHAT IS THE ROOT OF CLINTON'S STRONG SUPPORT AMONGST SENIORS?
Well, there is her Senate voting history. Unlike her main competitors John Edwards, who did not focus strongly on senior issues while in the Senate and Obama, who has not much of a record of fighting for senior issues, Hillary Clinton has been leading on many issues important to seniors.
More after the break
HISTORY OF FIGHTING FOR SENIORS
Rated 100% by the ARA, indicating a strong pro-senior voting record.
Clinton scores 100% by the ARA on senior issuesThe mission of the Alliance for Retired Americans is to ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens so that they may enjoy lives of dignity, personal and family fulfillment and security. The Alliance believes that all older and retired persons have a responsibility to strive to create a society that incorporates these goals and rights and that retirement provides them with opportunities to pursue new and expanded activities with their unions, civic organizations and their communities.
The following ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization's preferred position.
Source: ARA website
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1. Strongly opposes Privatizing Social Security.
2.Voted No on establishing reserve funds & pre-funding for Social Security
3.Clinton is a member of the Senate Aging Commission. The commission calls the Congress' and the nation's attention to issues affecting older Americans. The Committee continually reviews Medicare's performance and also regularly reviews pension coverage and employment opportunities for older Americans. It has conducted oversight of major programs like Social Security and the Older Americans Act and has crusaded against fraud targeting the elderly and Federal programs on which the elderly depend.
4. Primary sponsor of the Positive Aging Act. This legislation is designed to make mental health services for older adults an integral part of primary care services in community settings and to extend them to other settings where seniors reside and receive services. The bill would provide competitive grants to interdisciplinary teams of mental health professionals working in collaboration with primary care to identify and treat mental health disorders in seniors.
5. Caregiving. Together with John Warner (R-VA) Clinton wrote the Lifespan Respite Care Act. This bill authorizes competitive grants to states to make quality respite care available and accessible to family caregivers, regardless of age or disability. The bill allows grantees to identify, coordinate and build on existing federal, state and community-based respite resources and funding streams.
6. Because many children in our country are being cared for by grandparents and other relatives, Clinton introduced the Kinship Caregiver Support Act with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in the 108th Congress. This legislation establishes a Kinship Navigator Program to assists kinship caregivers in navigating their way through existing programs and services; establishes a Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program to provide federal assistance to states for subsidized guardianship programs to better serve the needs of kinship care families; and ensures that relatives are notified when children enter foster care.
7. Co-chairs the Congressional Alzheimers Task Force with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Representatives Edward Markey (D-MA) and Christopher Smith (R-NJ) to educate Congress and the public about the disease, encourages increased research funding, and fosters bipartisan discussion regarding public policies to assist individuals with Alzheimer's Disease and their families.
8. Strongly supports funding for stem cell research designed to combat many diseases. Stem cell research has shown promise particularly in the fields of aging diseases such as Alzheimers.
SENIOR ISSUES ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Radio Iowa: Clinton focuses on Elder Issues
http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm? objectid=6A788573-0CCA-7FEF-12B51BEDF7E0 521C
"I consider myself a modern progressive. I'm proud of all of the progress we've made as a nation, but it didn't happen by accident. It didn't happen by wishing for it. It happened because people came together and worked to achieve them -- and sometimes over great odds -- to reach what we saw as goals for our country," Clinton said. "Today, we face a new set of challenges." (photo: Hillary Clinton campaigning with her husband Bill earlier this year in Iowa)Clinton is calling for a new attempt to make the Social Security system solvent, a rewrite of the new prescription drug benefit for seniors and stricter government oversight of long-term insurance.
"Unfortunately, we're not addressing any of these issues and planning for the future. Our current president hasn't called on us to make a national commitment to saving Social Security and Medicare. In fact, he's tried to privatize Social Security," Clinton said. "...And his answer to the prescription drug needs of our seniors is a plan that takes a Ph.D in bureaucracy to try to figure out."
Clinton did not mention her rivals for the Democratic party's presidential nomination. Instead, she repeatedly attacked the current Republican President. Clinton criticized Bush for pursuing a "you're on your own" society. "And if you look at 'you're on your own' -- you take the first letters -- that's the Yoyo society where you go up and you go down and somebody else is pulling and holding the strings on you," Clinton said, to applause from the crowd of 400 who gathered in the band room at Waukee High School to hear her speak.
Clinton chose to stress the theme of her new television commercials which began airing in Iowa this week, telling the crowd she shares the "vision" former presidents like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman had for the country.
"For too many people, it's like they're invisible to the president. You know, we don't see what's happening in the lives of people here in Iowa and across the country from this White House and I think that's outrageous because so many people have worked hard their entire lives and they realize they can't afford to retire," Clinton said.
The average age of an Iowa Caucus-goer is about 55, and many in the crowd were older. Clinton invited two elderly women up on stage to tell stories of their pocketbook struggles.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Clinton Discusses Health Care Issues in Speech at Conference Sponsored by Senior Group
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_repor ts/health2008dr.cfm?DR_ID=47294
Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday during a speech at a conference in Washington, D.C., said that U.S. seniors are "not invisible" to her and that as president she would seek to reduce long-term care costs, CQ HealthBeat reports. At the conference, sponsored by the Alliance of Retired Americans, Clinton said that many seniors currently cannot afford the cost of long-term care.She also said that she would seek to end the use of fraudulent practices in which companies increase costs or deny benefits to seniors who have purchased long-term care insurance policies. "We must unravel the deception of fraudsters and what they do to people," Clinton said. She said seniors should have the ability to file lawsuits against companies that misuse their personal information and proposed to establish a national telecommunications database that would help protect seniors from fraudulent practices (Bartolf, CQ HealthBeat, 9/4).
In addition, Clinton said that CMS should have the ability to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies on prices for medications under the Medicare prescription drug benefit and that U.S. residents should have the ability to purchase lower-cost medications from Canada and other industrialized nations.
Clinton also said that her health care proposal reduces "costs for everybody, improves quality (of treatment) for everybody and covers everybody" (Hess, CongressDaily, 9/5). In May, Clinton announced a proposal to reduce health care costs during a speech at George Washington University, and last month, she announced a proposal to improve quality (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/24). She plans to announce a proposal to expand health insurance to all residents in the next few weeks (CQ HealthBeat, 9/4).
Watch the video of the speech here:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast /health2008hc.cfm?hc=2338
Clinton rejects raising age for Social Security benefits
I have talked about this particular issue and Clinton's appearance at the AARP's annual expo held in Boston in front of 27,000 seniors in a recent diary. Read it here:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/9/8/11574 3/9915
Watch video of the speech here:
Let me just reiterate that I found it rather interesting and disappointing that this main event held by the AARP, their national expo held once a year, only had one representative from the Democratic cadre of presidential candidates attending: Hillary Clinton. Clinton's closest rival, Barack Obama, will also be missing from the televised AARP debate forum in Iowa.
CONCLUSION
Given the sheer numbers of voters seniors bring to the table, this is obviously the most important constituency of them all. Clinton has been courting them strongly, and she has the background, gravitas and heart to convince them that she is going to fight for them all the way. If Clinton wins the nomination and perhaps eventually the presidency, look no further than this age group for the reasons. Of course, as is well known, Clinton is supported very strongly by women in general, which is usually (rightfully so) seen as the main reason she has strong leads over her rivals. But, Clinton's strong support amongst seniors is often overlooked, but given their strong numbers in precincts to vote in primaries/caucuses and the general election, should not be. Of course, many seniors are also women, even more so in later ages, as we men usually leave earlier than our "better halfs." (Had to bring the "better half" part in here, as my wife wants to read this tomorrow. :-) )
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