Hillary Clinton Stumps in Arkansas, Calls on Democrats To Seize The Middle, Says Claire's Running A Great Race

New York Senator Hillary Clinton visited northwest Arkansas Saturday, rallying Democrats to seize the moderate middle this election year.

"We have wonderful differences in America which is one of the reasons why we are such a unique place, but we also have a lot of common ground nobody is talking about," Clinton told the Arkansas Democratic Women's Convention. "We should seize that common ground as Democrats."

Click here to watch our KY3 News coverage on Clinton's visit.

Clinton was greeted with red signs reading "Madam President, January 20, 2009." Clinton peppered her speech in Rogers, Arkansas with lots of old history. She first visited Benton County 32 years ago when she came to Arkansas to help Bill Clinton campaign for Congress.

Arkansas Dems paid $100-a-plate for the luncheon and some spent $500 a pop for a special meet and greet session with the Senator. Democrats estimate they pulled in about $100,000.

After reminiscing about the good old days, Clinton served up some red meat for the eager crowd. The former First Lady said that while the economy is working for some folks, many middle class folks are not seeing it in their wages.

"Profits have gone up, productivity has gone up but where's the income raise for the average working American who's working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year," Clinton said to a rousing ovation.

Clinton spoke at length about her efforts to raise the federal minimum wage. "This is a values issue. We hear lots about values issues, well what about the value of hard work, rewarding hard work, giving people who work taking care of our children, taking care of our elderly, taking the hard jobs in society, what about them?" Clinton said she introduced legislation that "says no more pay raises for Congress until we raise the minimum wage." That line got a huge standing ovation . . . probably her biggest applause line of the day.

Trying to sound like a populist on economic policy, Clinton also targeted last year's energy bill. We've heard a lot about the energy bill in Missouri's Senate race. Sen. Talent voted for it because he says it created incentives for renewable fuels. Claire McCaskill said she would've voted against it because of tax breaks for oil companies. Clinton is with Claire, also against it.

"You know with oil $76, $77 dollars a barrel, the oil companies do not need a subsidy to go out an explore," Clinton said. "We need to take those subsidies away from the oil companies and we need to tax their excess profits and put them in a strategic energy fund."

If Democrats win back the Congress in the fall, Clinton also promised a return to the issue of health care. She admitted she made mistakes in the past, but wants to pass legislation that would create electronic medical records. She contends e-records would increase the quality of care and lower costs by $100 to $200 billion dollars a year.

On education, Clinton lambasted the Bush administration for cuts to Head Start and other pre-school programs, called No Child Left Behind an unfunded mandate and said more students aren't finishing college now than ever before because it costs too much to earn a degree.

She then turned to foreign policy, a touchy area for Clinton. In fact, there were protestors outside her speech in Rogers -- but they were protestors from the LEFT. They held signs criticizing Clinton for her support of the Iraq war and called her "a closet Republican."

Inside, her only words on Iraq were these: "No matter how one thinks about the beginning of it, there is no doubt it has been horribly mishandled." Clinton, instead, focused on building international alliances. "We need to use military power as a last resort, not a first resort," Clinton said in her delicate balancing act between supporting the war, while criticizing the strategy being used to fight it.

Throughout her speech, Clinton sprinkled in many references to "the middle ground" and "bipartisan efforts." She said fair-minded Republicans are ready for a change and are willing to vote for Democrats this year.

Why? Clinton lists 4 items that she says are turning away Republican voters from the G.O.P.

1) The deficit
2) Effort to privatize Social Security
3) War in Iraq weariness
4) Response to Hurricane Katrina

After her speech, Clinton signed tons of autographs and took many pictures. We then followed her to Fayetteville where she toured the public library and met with children. She ended her day at the Clinton museum in Fayetteville, the home she married Bill Clinton in years ago. There, she watched old campaign videos and commercials at what's now a museum of Bill Clinton's political career.

Clinton's press people run a tight ship. They didn't promise us anything but did get a us a few moments (they were quick moments) with the Senator.

When we asked her about Claire McCaskill she said "I think she's running a great race."
Why? "I'll let her run her own campaign, she's doing a fine job at it," Clinton replied.
When I went in for a third question, Clinton's press secretary cut me off and gave another reporter a shot. Fair enough.

Other questions were mostly from local reporters about what it was like to be back in Northwest Arkansas. I find it pointless, almost a waste of time to ask her about the presidency. She ain't gonna tell some local reporter in July 2006. She's only asked that question 3 times an hour. On policy, Clinton was asked about Israel's military response in Lebanon, where her hawkish wings showed once again. "I think Israel has the right to defend itself, and I fully support them," Clinton said.

As "her people" took her away, I tried one more time. "Will you come to Missouri to campaign for Claire McCaskill?," I asked. "I've got my own campaign to worry about," Clinton replied, hurrying over to sign more autographs and take more pictures.

Whether you love or hate her -- or are indifferent (that's impossible!) -- it was fun and exciting covering Hillary Clinton. She's controversial, polarizing, fascinating and thought-provoking all at the same time. I mean, friends of mine who have no interest in politics at all, were asking me about her. Everyone's curious. "Is she nice?" "Does she look mean?" "How does she look in person?"

Even to the simple-minded, she's a political rockstar.

And well, she could be our next president. Or maybe just a really powerful Senator for a long, long time.