Des Moines Register: Hillary Goes to Rural Iowa

Des Moines Register

Fort Madison, Ia. - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton introduced her campaign to rural Iowa Monday, campaigning for the first time with former Gov. Tom Vilsack and promoting her agenda as the same as small-town America's.

"There's a lot we can do, and obviously we need a new goal of revitalizing the rural economies of America," the New York senator told about 200 southeast Iowans.

The event, a barbecue on state Sen. Eugene Fraise's farm outside Fort Madison, marked a departure for Clinton, whose campaign appearances in the leadoff caucus state had been largely before larger audiences in ballrooms and gymnasiums.

It also marked the first in a series of trips Clinton plans to make in the coming weeks to the four corners of Iowa, beginning Monday in Vilsack's home political territory.

"You all gave us a tremendous opportunity as a state senator years ago and as governor," Vilsack told the group at Fraise's, making his first pitch for Iowans to support Clinton in the caucuses since endorsing her a week ago.

"When you've got Lee County Democrats on your side, when you've got southeast Democrats on your side, there is nobody - and I mean nobody - who can beat you," said Vilsack, who represented the area in the Iowa Senate.

Vilsack gave up his own bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination a month ago, having trailed former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and Clinton in early polls of Iowa caucusgoers.

Clinton aides have said Vilsack's backing brings the support of a core group of Iowa Democrats who were loyal to the governor.

It was clear Monday that Clinton's campaign also received a little advice from Vilsack.

Upon leaving the race last month, Vilsack implored his better-known rivals to move beyond the blockbuster campaign rallies that marked the early days of the Iowa campaign and reach into rural Iowa.

"We were looking forward to some smaller venues," Vilsack's wife, Christie, said before the event at Fraise's, while the audience dined on grilled bison and elk burgers.

But it wasn't immediately clear Monday how powerful his backing would be to Clinton among rank-and-file Democratic activists in Iowa.

Mary Weisinger, who walked a half-mile from her house to Fraise's, said she thinks some Democrats would be influenced to back Clinton based on Vilsack's endorsement, although she is not one of them.

"I haven't made up my mind, and I'm looking for someone with sensibility. That's not something you decide upon instantly," said Weisinger, who had supported Vilsack.

At a campaign event for Obama on Saturday, Dow City Democrat Julie Florian said she had planned to caucus for Vilsack, but does not plan to caucus for Clinton.

"I wish he would have endorsed someone else," said Florian, who said she is leaning toward Obama.

Clinton later headlined a forum in Burlington with the Vilsacks and roughly 400 caucus activists.

Today, Clinton is scheduled to attend an open house at the Vilsacks' home in Mount Pleasant before touring a Crawfordsville biodiesel plant and holding campaign forums in Iowa City and Waterloo.

Reporter Thomas Beaumont can be reached at (515) 286-2532 or tbeaumont@dmreg.com