By Dan Balz and Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 3, 2007

DES MOINES, July 2 -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton rolled out the ultimate campaign surrogate Monday night, sharing a stage with her husband, Bill Clinton, as one of the world's best-known women sought to reintroduce herself to the voters of Iowa.

The former president came to offer validation for his wife, and his appearance underscored the campaign's determination to deal with what has become a nagging problem in a state that could be crucial in determining who wins the Democratic nomination: Hillary Clinton leads in national polls, but she has been struggling in the state with the first caucuses of the nomination process.

Bill Clinton's message was short and simple. "In 2008," he said, "I will celebrate my 40th year as a voter, and in those 40 years . . . she is by a long stretch the best qualified non-incumbent I have ever had a chance to vote for in my entire life."

The Clintons arrived an hour after the scheduled start of their rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, but they received a warm welcome -- he wearing a bright-yellow shirt and she a pastel jacket.

After ticking through Hillary Clinton's record as a young lawyer, first lady of Arkansas, first lady during his two terms in the White House and now as a second-term senator from New York, her husband said: "Here's the second thing I want to say that she really can't say for herself: You will never have anybody in the White House who cares more about how every decision she makes and every problem she faces affects you and the people you know and care about."

Following her husband to the microphone, Hillary Clinton retold her life story -- from her upbringing in Chicago to Wellesley to Yale Law School -- before slipping into what has become her standard stump speech, promising to improve domestic policy and end the war in Iraq.

She took note of the day's most notable events, lambasting President Bush for commuting the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby even though the couple faced criticism themselves over Bill Clinton's pardon of financier Marc Rich. Hillary Clinton said that, as a woman, she would have a distinct advantage in "cleaning up" after the Bush administration if she were to take office in 2009.

"I know how hard this job is," Clinton said about halfway through her 25-minute remarks at the rally, which drew thousands of supporters. "But it will have some special challenges following President Bush and Vice President Cheney."

Although Hillary Clinton at one time argued that she would run entirely on her own merits, she did not hesitate Monday night to turn to her husband's record, and she said she would take full advantage of his popularity along the campaign trail.

Reaching toward her husband, who was seated nearby, she said she would "have some good help along the way" as she ran.

The Clintons arrived in Iowa on Monday afternoon, at the start of a busy week of campaigning by Democratic candidates. By then, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) had already stolen the political spotlight with his announcement Sunday that he had raised $31 million for his presidential primary campaign during the second quarter.

His quarterly total for the primaries outpaced Clinton's by nearly $10 million and marked him anew as her most formidable rival for the nomination.

For the rally, the Clinton campaign made sure a corner of the fairgrounds stood out as a slice of patriotic, rural America. The candidate and her husband spoke from a flatbed truck that was ringed with bales of hay topped with tiny U.S. flags.

Hewing to the Independence Day motif, more flags framed the backdrop of the grandstand at one side of the rally site. At the back of another seating area were two banners that delivered the not-so-subtle message for the week: "Ready for Change. Ready to Lead."

Although candidate Clinton has been on the campaign trail since January and in the national spotlight for at least 15 years, her advisers say most Americans still do not know her the way they want them to.

What voters do know about her relates primarily to her years as first lady -- a period in which she presided over a failed effort to reform the health-care system and was at the center of controversies. They know far less about her public life before the White House, or about her six years as a senator from New York.

Filling in the blanks is the former president's designated role this week. As former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, who endorsed Clinton after dropping out of the presidential race earlier this year, put it: "What better person to introduce her to us?"

Clinton's decision to bring her husband to the state reflected the reality that he is still far more popular than her with Iowa's Democratic activists. Her advisers hope that his presence will boost enthusiasm for her candidacy and help in organizational efforts around the state.

Although Clinton leads all national polls in the race for the Democratic nomination, she is anything but a clear front-runner in Iowa. In recent polls, she was statistically tied for the lead in two and for second place in the other.

Former senator John Edwards (N.C.) generally has held the top spot in Iowa, as a result of his strong second-place finish here in 2004 and his diligence in returning to the state time after time over the past three years. But Obama, with his enormous reservoir of cash, is equally a threat.

Clinton will spend the next three days in the state, including two with her husband. But she will not have Iowa to herself. Obama arrives Tuesday for two days of campaigning, including Independence Day with his family. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) will also spend several days in the state.