Hillary Clinton Talks NH Primary, Economy, Opioid Crisis With WBZ NewsRadio 1030
BOSTON (CBS) -- With only two weeks until the New Hampshire primary, WBZ NewsRadio's Joe Mathieu spoke with Hillary Clinton about the 2016 presidential race.
The Democratic candidate acknowledged that she's trailing Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the latest CBS News poll. But she said that at this stage of the run-up to the primary, a lot people were coming out to see the candidates in person as they hadn't yet made up their minds and that she would concentrate on winning their votes.
"I think I have some ground to make up, and I'm ready and prepared to do that," Clinton told Mathieu. "I know [Sanders] is your neighbor in New Hampshire and therefore well known to a lot of voters because of his long service in elected office. I totally respect that. So what I'm trying to do is get out and see as many people as possible."
When asked about the prospect of another Clinton comeback kid performance in the Granite State, Clinton laughed.
"Well, I'm working hard and I love my organization, and they're sure feeling good about where we are," said Clinton. "But we are not taking anything or anybody for granted."
Here's what Clinton had to say about some of the hot issues on the campaign trail:
The Economy
"We have lost ground for many, many people in our economy. We had the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression where we lost 9 million jobs. And although jobs have come back, people are not seeing their economic circumstances improve that much yet. And I have put raising incomes at the center of my economic plan, because until we get incomes back up people are going to feel insecure as so many do right now, worried, even angry about the fact they think the deck is stacked in favor of those at the top, that it doesn't matter how hard they work, they can't get ahead and stay ahead."
Raising Wages
"We know we can make progress. We know we have to work hard to create more good paying jobs. I want to incentivize people not to take jobs overseas, but to actually get incentives to bring them back. I want to incentivize profit sharing like what we see at Market Basket in New England. I want us to invest in the kind of skills that will give our people the chance to really be competitive in the global economy."
The Opioid Epidemic
"Mayor Walsh and I, and your attorney general, held a town hall because this is an epidemic, and New Hampshire is unfortunately really suffering from a high rate of overdoses, and I know parts of Massachusetts are as well. That's why we've got to do several things. We've got to do more to divert people from drug usage and alcohol over usage, and that means more diversionary programs. If you get arrested you can go before a drug court, not directly to jail – because what we want to do is to get people into recovery, get them what they need to get off these drugs. We have to do more to watch the prescribing of opioids. Of course, people with serious conditions that are painful need the help, but we know that far too many of these prescriptions are leading to people being hooked on opioids."
Legalizing Marijuana
"I think that states are the laboratories of democracy, and four states have already taken action to legalize, and it will be important that other states and the federal government take account of how that's being done, what we learn from what they're doing. And I do think on the federal level we need to move marijuana from the Schedule One of drugs, move it to Schedule Two, which will permit it to be the basis for medical research ... A lot of experts in the field are telling me we've got to learn a lot more. For example, you're taking marijuana for medical purposes, how does it interact with all the other drugs you're taking? What should be the right dosage?"
Threats Against America
"I think voters also are concerned about the threats in the world, and Paris and San Bernadino brought those home to folks. And that's why I've laid out a specific plan to take on ISIS, to take on the terrorist jihadi network, to begin to deprive them of territory, cut off their foreign fighters and funding, take them on online, and then really increase our vigilance here at home to prevent the attacks that might be attempted against us."
Republican Rhetoric
"Some of the really shameful, irresponsible rhetoric we heard from leading Republican candidates is not only wrong, it's dangerous. In order to be successful in taking on a terrorist network like ISIS, here at home we need American Muslims to be part of our effort–not to feel threatened, not to be denigrated and insulted. And certainly as we put together a coalition in the Middle East and beyond to go after ISIS, we need Muslim nations to be fully involved in cooperating with us. So people around the world pay attention to what candidates running for President say, and we just can't afford that kind of rhetoric in a serious attempt to deal with some of the dangers we face."
Listen to the full interview here: