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Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - NY Farmer, Rural Advocate to Tour South Dakota on Hillary's Behalf

May 18, 2008

Mitchell, SD - The Clinton campaign in South Dakota today announced that a dairy farmer and a rural Democratic party leader from New York will tour the Mount Rushmore State this week to promote the success of Senator Clinton's rural and agricultural initiatives in New York State.

The travelers, who will also be joined by the Senator's Agricultural Policy Advisor, will visit communities across South Dakota to discuss Hillary's positive impact on New York agriculture and its small communities.

"Hillary has a proven record of creating and promoting programs that help farmers and rural communities," said Ed King, a dairy farmer from Saratoga County, a rural area in northern New York. "She knows the importance of the agriculture industry in maintaining a strong economy, and the key role that small towns and rural communities play in America."

"Senator Clinton has worked tirelessly to help us in rural New York," said Tom Poelker, chair of the Democratic Party in Greene County, which is located in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. "She fought to bring us disaster assistance after floods devastated our region. She has also promoted better access to broadband, small-business employment, rural health care, programs to expand computer and software, and literacy programs in small rural communities."

Hillary recently traveled to a family farm in Bath, SD where she reiterated her support for the Farm Bill that passed the Senate last week, but also detailed her aggressive Rural Agenda to expand South Dakota's rural economies and strengthen rural communities and small towns throughout the state. Hillary has proposed incentives to live, work and invest in rural areas. Rural communities in South Dakota make up nearly 58 percent of the state's population, and her plan creates more opportunities and strives to make it financially advantageous for people to move back to their South Dakota communities, while investing in rural education, healthcare, broadband, and agriculture.

Ed King is the senior member of the King's Ransom Farm in Saratoga County, New York. It is a dairy and Holstein breeding family farm that sells to domestic and international markets. King also served 11 years as the Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture in New York State.

Tom Poelker grew up working on a dairy farm in rural Greene County, New York. In addition to his position as chair of the Greene County Democratic Party, he currently owns and operates a construction company, serves on the town planning board and as a volunteer firefighter. Poelker is also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Similar groups of New York travelers have previously toured over 10 states, including Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and West Virginia, on behalf of Clinton.

Hillary is committed to expanding opportunities for rural communities and small towns in America. As a Senator, she has fought hard to maintain programs in resource conservation, economic development and agriculture that are vital to the environmental and economic health of family farms. From her creation of rural trading cooperatives (e-commerce initiatives), to her Farm-to-Fork initiative, to her efforts to create better access to credit and capital for business entrepreneurs, to her support for broadband in all rural areas, and her efforts to keep VA facilities open, Hillary is dedicated to helping small towns and rural communities thrive.

For more information, please log on to www.HillaryClinton.com.

Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - NY Farmer, Rural Advocate to Tour South Dakota on Hillary's Behalf Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/297294

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