WWE News: Backlash 2009 Location, SD Rating, Press Release

– Next year’s WWE Backlash PPV will be held at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island on April 26th, 2009.

– Smackdown last week finished with a 2.4 rating. [PWInsider.com]

– WWE sent out this press release today.

Sen. Clinton Responds To Smackdown Your Vote® Issues Paper

STAMFORD, Conn., May 12, 2008 – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton believes the greatest potential for new jobs for younger voters lies in alternative energy, innovation, and infrastructure and public sector jobs, according to her responses to WWE®’s SmackdownYourVote! 18-30 Voter Issues Paper (VIP). The Smackdown Your Vote! initiative has encouraged millions of young adults to vote in federal, state and local elections.

“I believe that alternative energy, innovation and infrastructure have the potential to create millions of new, high-paying jobs for young adults,” said Sen. Clinton. “That is why I have committed to making investments in each of these sectors.”

Sen. Clinton is the first of the presidential candidates responding to the national SmackdownYourVote! 18-30 VIP, which covers issues important to younger voters, such as the economy, health care, education, the Iraq war, energy and the environment. This is the second presidential cycle that SmackdownYourVote! circulated the VIP to the major political candidates, all of whom responded in 2004.

On health care, Sen. Clinton said universal health care was a critical priority because too many young people without insurance face the prospects of dire economic circumstances if they get sick. “It is unconscionable that in the richest country in the world, in this day and age, some people die because they do not have health insurance,” she said. “It is unacceptable that insurance companies spend $50 billion a year on elaborate calculations and schemes to figure out how to avoid covering people and deny claims.”

On education, the senator said she had proposed a comprehensive plan to make college more affordable and accessible. “At the heart of my plan is a proposal to create a new $3,500 partially refundable college tax credit that would cover the full average cost of tuition at a community college and half the average cost of tuition at a public college or university,” said Sen. Clinton.

Sen. Clinton’s complete answers to the 18-30 VIP are attached and are posted on smackdownyourvote.com. The issue paper is being reviewed by the campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and presumptive Republican candidate Sen. John McCain. The three candidates each provided special videotaped messages on a recent Monday Night RAW to promote their candidacies.