INDIANOLA, Iowa – Hillary Rodham Clinton all but kicked off her 2016 White House campaign bid Sunday before a crowd of 6,000 in this pivotal state, presenting herself as a child and champion of the still-struggling middle class.
Dogged by an image as an out-of-touch, wealthy insider, her appearance at a field 20 miles outside of Des Moines was an effort to reposition her for the coming campaign.
It's too soon to say if voters will buy a more empathetic Clinton, making her first visit to Iowa in nearly seven years. While Democratic activists cheered, the response was not overwhelming, and many signaled they were not ready to commit this soon.
The Iowa presidential caucuses, the nation's first, are at least 16 months away. Activists still have vivid memories of how Clinton faltered last time — she finished third in the 2008 caucuses behind Barack Obama and John Edwards — and they want to wait to see if she can be more down-to-earth and feisty this time.
"Well hello, Iowa, I'm back," Clinton said with a smile as she looked out over the people camped out on the lawn at the annual, and final, Steak Fry hosted by retiring Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.
She wouldn't commit to another White House run, but wouldn't rule it out either.
"It is true I am thinking about it," Clinton said. "But that's not why I'm here today." A few in the crowd said, "Aww."
"I'm here for the steaks," Clinton said. "For four years as secretary of state I was more likely to be eating yak meat in Mongolia, having a great time doing it, but thinking a lot about being back home."
People did overwhelmingly say that if Clinton runs a strong campaign, they'd rally behind her.
"I like her experience, and she knows what she's doing," said Dawn Dick, a Des Moines manager for a metal distributor. "But I'm still up in the air about what to do."
Ann Swenson, a Waukee music teacher, liked Clinton, too. She also liked Vice President Joe Biden. "I just want a Democrat in office."
Tightly scripted
Clinton's visit was tightly scripted, and often physically distant, from the crowd at the afternoon-long schmoozefest that since the 1970s has been one of the state's premier showcases for Democratic White House hopefuls.
She and former President Bill Clinton arrived in a motorcade that headed for a gas grill. They cooked steaks and bantered with Harkin and a few guests for seven minutes as 200 journalists watched. Clinton said matter-of-factly that she was "just here to support candidates."
The Clintons then rode to the nearby podium. Harkin greeted them warmly, joking they were the "comeback couple," a reference to Bill Clinton's 1992 nomination fight and, by implication, his wife's next campaign. "There are many more chapters to be written in the amazing life of Hillary Clinton," Harkin said.
She started writing the latest chapter on Sunday. Clinton recalled her middle-class upbringing in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, and compared sustaining a middle-class life to "pushing a boulder uphill every day."
"No matter who you are or where you come from, if you work hard and you play by the rules you deserve the same opportunity as anyone else to build a good life for yourself and your family," Clinton said.
Baby watch
She presented herself as a mother particularly sensitive to women's issues. "I've got a few things on my mind these days. First, and most importantly, Bill and I are on constant grandchild watch," she said. "I'm calling Chelsea every five minutes to make sure things are going all right."
Most of her 24-minute talk Sunday focused on electing Democrats, and Bill Clinton got rough. Republicans, he said are "trying to get you to check your brain at the door. The last thing they want you to do is think."
He tore into Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who called passage of a campaign finance law "the worst day of my political life."
"I was profoundly sad," Clinton said. "That was hardly the worst thing he's endured — what about 9/11? What about the farm crisis in the '70s?"
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