Clinton's Comments to Wisconsin Reporters Thursday

Hi everybody. I apologize for running a little late here. I was at a big auto plant in Lordstown, in the Youngstown area, and had a great visit there, and outlined again a lot of my economic plan and the contrast with Senator Obama.

Now I hear yesterday that Senator Obama's campaign declared that this race was over. Well I beg to differ, and I think the people of Wisconsin and other states would like to have a say before anyone declares themselves the nominee. We have important states up ahead that deserve their chance in this process. They deserve to be heard and they deserve to hear from us. They deserve to hear us debate. We've only had a two person race for two weeks. That's hard to imagine because it's been a very jam-packed two weeks. But the last time we debated was in California, and I convincingly won California, which may be why Senator Obama doesn't want to have a debate in Wisconsin. Maybe he doesn't want a debate because he thinks he's already won, or maybe he doesn't want a debate because he doesn't want to answer tough questions, like why his healthcare plan doesn't cover 15 million Americans. But I have said that I will debate anytime anywhere. I have accepted the standing invitation for the Milwaukee debate and I hope that Senator Obama, who's spending time in Wisconsin, will find the time to have this debate, so that the famously independent votes of Wisconsin will have a chance to compare and contrast us for themselves.