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Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesdaybegan to sketch out a presidential campaign focused on persistent economic difficulties facing Americans, making her case with a tacitacknowledgment of the limited success on that front under the Obama administration.

Her first campaign day since her Sunday announcement was equal parts traveling circus and listening tour, taking placein the state that started her slide toward defeat in the 2008 contest.

Clinton adopted a populist air at her first public event, which was held in an auto shop at Kirkwood Community Colleges Jones County Regional Center. She toured the facility and then sat at a table with teachers and students, under two vertical car lifts.

"I think we all know that Americans have come back from some pretty tough economic times, and our economy and our country are much better off because Americanfamilies have basically done whatever it took to make it work," she said in introductory remarks. "But I think its fair to say as you look across the country, the deck is still stacked in favor of those already at the top. And theres something wrong with that.

"Theres something wrong when CEOs make 300 times more than the typical worker. Theres something wrong when American workers keep getting more productive but that productivity is not matched in their paychecks. Theres something wrong when hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses or the truckers I saw on I-80 as I was driving here over the last two days.

"So weve got to figure out in our country how to get back on the right track," said Clinton, who had received strong support from big business in past campaigns.

Clintons first appeal was deeply focused on Iowa besides the interstate reference, she touted the college debt levels of the state at one point. But she also used the visit to remind voters of the biography of one of the worlds best-known women.

She recounted her mothers abandonment as a child, her fathers work as a small-business man, her churchs teachings about helping others, her lawyer work for the Childrens Defense Fund, her efforts to pass a healthcare initiative which failed a successful program for childrens coverage as first lady, her work as a New York senator after the Sept. 11 attacks and her tenure as secretary of State.

She said the country faced "four big fights": building "the economy of tomorrow, not yesterday," strengthening families, protecting the nations security, and getting "unaccountable money" out of a dysfunctional political system. She raised the prospect of a constitutional amendment to block the sorts of campaign donations that have been used by all sides--Clinton herself is expected to benefit in 2016--but have particularly helped Republicans.

During aneducation roundtable, Clinton said she supported President Obamas proposal to make community college free. She also backed the controversial national standards known as Common Core that have drawn opposition among both social conservatives and liberals.

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Hillary Clinton's Iowa campaign opens: Populist theme, convivial in tone