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Congressman Sanford Bishop, of the second congressional district, spoke ahead of President Clinton’s in Albany. “All elections are important, but this one is really consequential for our children, our children’s children, and our children’s, children’s, children. The course of history can be changed, and will be changed by this election.”

He made claims about COVID deaths. “1 million people dead from covid because it was mishandled by the then president.”

He made further claims about the opposition, tracing several events he considered reasons to rally behind the democratic candidate. “Then we had January 6, a threat on our democracy. We know what we’re dealing with. We got project 2025, that wants to take us back, eliminate the Department of Education, cut Head Start, take over the Justice Department, make the president above the law.”

Former President Bill Clinton addressed those gathered. “When I volunteered to help Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, I told them, I said, send somebody else to the big places, somebody that needs the TV coverage. I said, send me to the country.”

Clinton spoke on inflation, which he saw as a Republican counter to the Harris campaign. “We’re still, with all this inflation, we’re still the best positioned County in the world for the next 20 or 30 years. By far. It’s not close.”

He commented on how basic prices are not reflected in typical measures of inflation. “One of the problems we got, is when people kept telling you that inflation is down, you couldn’t tell at the grocery stores or the pump. There’s a reason for that. The economists say that food prices change so much, and fuel prices change so much, we can’t put them in core inflation because there’s no trend. It will be up one month and down another.”

Clinton made claims about the grocery market, giving a different reason for cost increases than inflation. “But most of the grocery market now is heavily concentrated in a few big owners, Whole Foods and the other chains and all that. They earn a surprisingly low profit margin, but they’re selling to a zillion people. So if I’m selling something to a million people, and my normal margin is 3%, if I get to charge four I’m a rich person. That’s what’s going on with the food.”

Clinton commented on price gouging, an issue Harris had made a part of her campaign. “That belongs in state law, historically. Kamala Harris is the only candidate who has said that with so much concentration in the grocery market, we have got to have a national price gouging law so the Justice Department can look at it.”

After his speech, lady from the crowd shouted; “Thanks for coming to the Country.”

Sumter County native Bobby Fuse told what it was like witnessing Clinton speak. “It was wonderful.” He stated he had also seen him earlier at Mt. Zion church.

When asked if there was any part of his message that resonated with him in particular, Fuse commented; “The whole part about the economy and the state of the economy, and the plain understanding of how they twist numbers, include certain things in reports, exclude other things in reports, and give you a false narrative about how well we’re doing.”