Hillary Clinton rallies support in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) - During stops in St. Petersburg, Hillary Clinton obliged Donald Trump's effort to make the presidential campaign about the economy.

She stopped for a photo op and discussion at Three Daughters Brewing in St. Petersburg, saying the owners were hoping her administration would streamline the process to help small business owners get loans.

"I was particularly keen that we not just help the giant American corporations, but we help the small businesses, the medium sized businesses," she said.

Her St. Petersburg stop marks the beginning of a new battle in the 2016 campaign.

The conventions are over, the VP picks have been made, and yet the debates are still six weeks away.

The campaigns will battle over issues.

"I want to be the person who helps to create new jobs, with rising incomes," Clinton said.

Clinton touted her plans to streamline the process to get new loans from the small business administration, as well as to allow young entrepreneurs a chance to defer student loans while they start a new small business.

She cited her grandfather's roots as a worker in a textile company in Illinois.

"I am going to do everything I can to get companies that make profits to share those profits with their workers just like the company my grandfather worked for," she said.

She is working on a familiar Democratic party theme: that Republican policies only help top income earners.

She blasted Donald Trump's economic policies as a "retread" of "trickle down economics."

"They are just playing the same old siren song," Clinton said. "Why they haven't learned? We are not interested in economic plans that only help the top one percent. It is time we help everyone in America get ahead and stay ahead."

She said she would raise taxes on the wealthy, but insisted her plan would generate 600,000 jobs for Florida, while his would lose 200,000.

"His plans will give big tax breaks to large corporations, and the really wealthy, just like him and the guys who wrote the speech," she said.

Clinton will be in Miami on Tuesday where she will be meeting with health officials to discuss the growing Zika threat to Florida.