YOUNGWOOD, Pa. _ On a ticket still facing difficult polls but revived by his opposition's struggles, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence denounced Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton _ while urging Republicans to rally behind Republican Donald Trump.
"It's time for us all to say with one voice to our fellow Republicans and conservatives, with one voice: It's time to come home," he told the crowd of more than 800 people in a gym at Westmoreland Community College in Youngwood. "It's time to come home and make Donald Trump the next president of the United States."
Early on in the speech, Pence seized on last week's news that the FBI was looking into emails on a laptop belonging to the estranged husband of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. And he used the occasion to revisit a litany of ethics complaints Republicans have lodged against Clinton and her husband, and what he called "pay to play politics."
"We commend the FBI for reopening the case," said Pence. "Because in America, no one is above the law."
"If only for their decades of self-dealing ... and their outright corruption, we must decided here and now in this great state that Hillary Clinton will never be elected," he argued a short time later. He cited contributions made to a family foundation by foreign sources, and aid groups that sought to work in places like Haiti.
Pence's stump speech reprised much of the territory, and several of the jokes, that he delivered in Pittsburgh's Strip District in August. He pledged, for example, that on the first day of a Trump administration, "the war on coal comes to an end" _ a popular promise in Western Pennsylvania. And he reminded the audience that the next president would likely make Supreme Court appointments that could shape the court for a generation.
"If you cherish our constitution, if you cherish the second amendment, your right to keep and bear arms, if you cherish the sanctity of human life ... you better think long and hard," he said.
On foreign policy, "History teaches that weakness arouses evil," he said, revisiting a familiar argument, and he contended that when she served as secretary of state, "The foreign policy that Hillary Clinton crafted for this administration has literally weakened this nation's place in the world."
Pence accused Clinton and President Barack Obama of failing to preserve what he characterized as a victory in Iraq.
"When I think of how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama squandered what so many sacrificed to achieve for the people of Iraq and our own security, it grieves my heart," he said. Democrats have noted that U.S. troops departed Iraq because the government would not agree to legal protections for troops that remained.
Pence also revisited a topic Trump spoke about on the eastern end of the state earlier today: the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
"The Obama administration just last week announced that the average premiums _ and this is the first day of open enrollment _ the average premiums for 2017 or are going to go up 25 percent," he said.
"We can't trust Hillary Clinton with our health care anymore than we can trust her with classified information."
The premium hikes will not affect the majority of Americans who receive health care through Medicare or their employer. And for many of those who are affected, the impact of those increases can be reduced by subsidies. But Pence's message targeted constituents like Arthur Gellman.
"They're raising my premiums from $450 a month to $600," said the 63-year-old, who said he retired a year ago but won't be eligible for Medicare benefits for another two years. And he worried that "if Hillary gets in, you're not going to see a Republican (president) for decades to come. ... They'll allow a lot more (immigrants) to come across the border, to turn the red states blue and change the demographics."
Gellman also lamented that the Trump sign in his Squirrel Hill yard had been removed four times. "I can see their faces on my security camera. It's an anger. You shouldn't do that kind of stuff."
As to where the anger came from, "I'm not a conspiracist, but I know George Soros is involved in a lot of this," he said. "It's not the Democratic Party of Kennedy anymore."
Several of those waiting outside said they were registered Democrats, though it was apparent that they hadn't voted that way for some time.
"I was a McGovernite," said Dorothy Carbisiero of New Stanton, referring to the 1972 campaign of George McGovern. While she said she still felt a family connection the party _ her father had been a union representative at Johnstown's Bethlehem Steel works _ she said Democrats were "giving people too much, rather than motivating them to go get jobs."
She said that the Republican's anti-abortion stance was an important factor in her support. "I believe (Pence) lives his faith and isn't afraid to project it," she said. "I am awed by the fact that they care about citizens from the womb to the tomb."
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards struck a different note Tuesday morning, during an appearance at a Democratic organizing office in Pittsburgh's East End.
"He's pledged to appoint a ninth justice that would overturn Roe vs. Wade," said Richards, referring to the court precedent that has guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion for more than 40 years. She noted that, as a governor and a congressman, Pence had long been a strident foe of reproductive rights, and supported stripping Planned Parenthood of funds it received even for non-abortion care.
"All of the things that we have achieved for women are at risk," she said.
