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Hillary Clinton talks jobs, tours brewery in St. Petersburg (w/video)

 
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets supporters before taking the stage for a campaign rally Monday at The Coliseum in St. Petersburg. The rally was part of Clinton's Jobs Tour in Florida. [LOREN ELLIOTT   |   Times]
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets supporters before taking the stage for a campaign rally Monday at The Coliseum in St. Petersburg. The rally was part of Clinton's Jobs Tour in Florida. [LOREN ELLIOTT | Times]
Published Aug. 9, 2016

ST. PETERSBURG — Mike and Leigh Harting didn't know what to think Thursday when someone walked into their popular craft brewery, 3 Daughters, and asked if Hillary Clinton could drop by.

Best not to get involved in religion or politics, Mike Harting remembers thinking. "Too polarizing for everybody drinking our beer."

A few more phone calls and chats, and the Hartings, both Republicans, decided, why not? "This goes beyond politics. This is just, plain cool," said Mike, who has never voted for a Democrat for president.

After a flurry of activity over the weekend — multiple visits from Clinton's campaign and Secret Service team, and not a single question about their politics — the Democratic nominee strolled into the warehouse Monday.

Away from the cameras, Clinton gushed over and hugged the Hartings' daughters. Then she wandered through the building chatting with the couple among stacks of Rod Bender Red Ale and Bimini Twist IPA. Close behind, a scrum of reporters and photographers strained to eavesdrop.

"I was very impressed that she really listened to our challenges as a small business," said Leigh, who marveled at how the choreographed event felt spontaneous and substantive. "She was very gracious, and she's incredibly intelligent."

After Clinton's 3 Daughters visit, she spoke before 2,000 people at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg before leaving for another rally in Kissimmee.

Though many fewer attended, the brewery stop checked several crucial boxes for the Clinton campaign.

Coveted millennial voters love craft beer, and Clinton needs all the help she can get connecting to young voters.

Visiting a local brewery emphasized her message that small businesses, not big corporations, are her priority. It didn't hurt that she hit that note on a day Donald Trump delivered a big speech on his economic agenda.

Clinton's friends say she prefers discussing wonky policies in small groups than headlining campaign rallies.

At 3 Daughters, she seemed positively excited about the anything-but-exciting suggestions she heard from Mike and Leigh Harting.

"Right now, employees spend a lot of time figuring out excise tax, which is pretty complicated, and I want to try to blow through all that, simplify it, flatten it, make it possible for companies like this to get the information," Clinton told the reporters, 3 Daughters employees and other guests. "And they came up with a really good suggestion: People who register LLCs, if they're going to have employees, they should immediately get a package of information, like here's how you can get help understanding what you have to do to register in different jurisdictions to pay taxes in different jurisdictions and the like."

Not exactly bumper sticker material.

Clinton spared The Coliseum crowd dense policy details as she cast herself as a champion for small business and Trump the candidate for big corporations. She noted that 20 years ago this month, she campaigned in The Coliseum, urging voters to reelect President Bill Clinton.

"I'm not new to this area or its concerns," she said.

Among those lined up to attend the rally, the Republican nominee sounded like at least as much of a motivator as Clinton.

"I think he's scary," said Cynthia Hanks, 68, of St. Petersburg. "I think he's dishonest. I think he's in the wrong place. I don't think he's presidential material."

Andy Bragg, a 66-year-old retiree from St. Petersburg, said he thinks Clinton is more qualified.

"I'm an independent, and you also have to factor in who she's running against," Bragg said. "I think he (Donald Trump) would be very bad economically, internationally."

Not everyone was a committed Clinton supporter. Dara Gyorko, a 22-year-old graduate student at the University of South Florida, said she came to "get some more information on what the heck is going on in 2016."

She wouldn't rule out voting for a third party, but added: "I'm not voting for Trump."

Clinton told the crowd that Trump's economic agenda is repackaged trickle down economics.

"His tax plans would give super big tax breaks to large corporations and the really wealthy. ...I have said throughout this campaign I am not going to raise the taxes on the middle class, but with your help we are going to raise it on the wealthy."

Economic anxiety is one of the bigger challenges facing the Democratic nominee, who is campaigning both as a steady hand supporting most of Barack Obama's agenda and as a change-agent.

"Hillary's visit to Florida will not change the fact that people don't trust her to lead this nation. The more she tries to defend the indefensible, the more she sounds like the career politician we all know she is. Floridians want someone to stand up for them and fight the status quo. Unfortunately, Hillary is more of the same," Florida Republican Chairman Blaise Ingoglia said in a statement Monday.

An ABC-Washington Post nationwide poll released Sunday found Clinton leading Trump by 8 percentage points, 50 percent to 42 percent, but neck-and-neck on the question of whether voters trust her or him more on handling the economy — 48 percent said Clinton and 46 percent Trump.

The Republican 3 Daughters founders liked what they saw and heard — even though Clinton never did sample a beer. They did send her off with some cold ones.

"We're honored that the (next) president of the United states recognizes the best quality craft beer in the United States," quipped Scott Wagman, a 3 Daughters partner who was on hand. "We look forward to 3 daughters being served in the White House."

Did Clinton win over the Hartings?

They remain officially undecided.