Clinton Begins Her Run In Earnest

The others are Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who will formally launch his candidacy in two weeks; former North Carolina senator John Edwards, who has a strong base from his second-place finish here in 2004; and former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack. Many Democrats here see Edwards currently in the strongest position, and he drew a sizable crowd on his first trip to the state as an announced candidate last month. But the campaign appears wide open at this point.

Clinton promised to return here often. And in her town hall appearance, she wryly remarked that she hopes to "have this as a one-on-one conversation, just you and me, and about several hundred national press people." But she added that the hoopla "will fade, and we'll actually be able to pursue this conversation in a very personal way."

Her interaction with the crowd was personal at times, despite the news media crush. One woman, Terri Hoffman, 53, a teacher from Des Moines, confessed in front of the audience that she is going through menopause. Clinton nodded knowingly and smiled. At another point, a member of the audience shouted to Clinton: "You go, girl!"

"You go with me!" Clinton replied.

At the end of her hour-long appearance, as the tune "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" filled the gymnasium, Clinton lingered to shake hands and sign autographs -- a practice more closely associated with her husband.

The immediate reaction to Clinton's performance at East High School was enthusiastic. Still, many said that it is far too early for them to commit to her or to any of the other Democratic candidates vying for the nomination.

"She's an electrically charged presence who is articulate," said Marilyn Musser of Des Moines, who had posed the question about how Clinton intends to deal with the gender issue in the campaign.

Musser said Clinton's candidacy is the "most impressive for me," but she added: "We're a long way from the election." She made clear that the prospect of electing the first female president is a factor in her consideration. "What else do women have to prove?" she asked.

Effie Hall of Grinnell, Iowa, was impressed with how well Clinton connected with the audience. "People say she's cold, but I thought she was quite warm," she said.

But Hall said the questions ignored some major issues facing the country. "Iraq wasn't really part of it," she said. "She talked about the VA and her support of the VA [Veterans Affairs] system, but I thought there would be more. Maybe that's an old story. Maybe people knew she supported [the war] and now has backed off."

The Clinton campaign worked to build the crowds. It ran radio ads encouraging people to attend the candidate's public events and used "robocalls" -- automated phone messages using Clinton's voice -- to let the most likely caucus attendees know she was coming. Clinton's advisers said they made no effort to screen those who came to the town hall meeting or to try to manage the questioning.

In addition to her public events, a busy private schedule filled Clinton's 24 hours in Des Moines. She met with Gov. Chet Culver (D) shortly after arriving on Friday, and later attended a private dinner with 15 to 20 Democratic elected officials. On Saturday morning, Clinton met with labor leaders over breakfast at her hotel.

At a house party in Cedar Rapids on Saturday night, Clinton raised the subject of Iraq herself, expressing strong disapproval of Bush's handling of the war and calling for Congress to cut off funding for Iraqi troops.

"The rest of the world is standing with their arms crossed, just kind of waiting to see what we do," she said. "In the Congress, we are trying to set a different message now."

She said that, through a bipartisan resolution of disapproval, the Democratic-led Congress is "trying to demonstrate to the world that at least some of us understand what has to be done."

"But it's going to be hard because we have very few tools that we can use to try to reverse course. The president has enormous power in the area," Clinton said.