Clinton hammers NC's social issues in Greensboro stop
GREENSBORO (WTVD) -- Hillary Clinton walked out in front of 1,420 people at UNC Greensboro to the James Brown song "I Feel Good" and the first part of her speech backed that up.
"It's great to be back on the campaign trail," Clinton told the amped-up crowd. "As you may know, I recently had a cough that turned out to be pneumonia. I tried to power through it. I'm not great at taking it easy under ordinary circumstances but with less than two months to the election, sitting at home is the last place I wanted to be."
Clinton said the brief respite offered her time for reflection but said she's ready to get back on the campaign trail, just a week and a half before her first debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump.
In a shorter-than-usual speech, Clinton hammered Trump while homing in on state issues such as House Bill 2 and voting rights.
"This is where bigotry leads," Clinton said about HB2. "If anyone wonders what the costs of discrimination are, just ask the people in businesses in North Carolina, look at what's happening with the NCAA, and the ACC.
"You know what your governor and legislature tried to do," Clinton later said of recent Republican efforts to constrict voting access. "Make it harder for young people to vote; harder for people of color; harder for people with disabilities; harder for the elderly. There can't be any more motivation than that to make sure every young person, every person of color, every person with a disability, every older person turns out and votes.
WATCH: CLINTON'S FULL SPEECH IN GREENSBORO
"It's just 54 days to Election Day," Clinton prompted the crowd. "54 days till the most consequential vote of our lifetime. And just a little over a month since early voting starts in North Carolina."
Voters who came to see Clinton said she looked good after her health scare over the weekend.
"I think she looked great. I've had pneumonia four times. You take your medicine and you move on," said Anna Marshall-Baker, a professor at UNCG. "Can you imagine being in this kind of campaign? I think taking time to catch her breath came at a good time."
Cindy Delisi, also from Greensboro, said she came to the rally still undecided.
"There's too many inconsistencies in Donald Trump and the emails and trust issue with Hillary," she said. "I'm ready for a change but I'm not so sure if I'm ready for one of these two changes, OK? I'm trying to decide still."
But for other voters, the choice is clear.
"I just don't like Trump," said UNCG freshman Tondalaya Burney, "so anything, anybody but Trump."
Ian Miller, a junior at UNC Greensboro, had much the same thought.
"I mean, you have to vote for her. I just couldn't imagine a Trump presidency. As far as the social presence in America and the world at large, America's face, I mean having a (President) Trump; it's such a negative energy, painting people in America not in a good light."
"I think she made some good points about North Carolina," said Marshall-Baker. "I think what the NCAA has done in the last week and what the ACC has done and what the NBA did a few months ago are messages to the direction the state is heading. And that it isn't the kind of thing that brings people together. And I think she's right, we're better together."
