Iowa Democrats see Hillary Clinton through new lens
By Dan Balz and Philip Rucker, Washington Post
CEDAR RAPIDS Eleven Iowa Democratic activists had been talking about the state of the country, the politics of 2016 and a prospective presidential campaign by Hillary Rodham Clinton one recent night when they were asked two questions.
The first was who they would invite to a dinner party if they could pick from among four prominent Democrats. Six picked President Barack Obama. Two each named Vice President Joe Biden and former president Bill Clinton. Just one said they would invite Hillary Clinton.
Next they were asked who among that same group they would call first if they faced a family emergency. The response was overwhelming. Seven of the 11 said they would want Hillary Clinton at their side.
The responses crystallized nearly two hours of conversation and captured the range of Democratic sentiment about the politician whose possible candidacy is eagerly anticipated by those in her party. But a separate conversation with a smaller group of Republican activists highlighted the degree to which she remains a polarizing figure.
No state frustrated Clinton more during her 2008 campaign than Iowa, which launched Obama, then an Illinois senator, and dealt her a demoralizing setback with her third-place finish in the nations first caucuses.
Today, Iowa activists see her through a new lens. Democrats, including those who backed Obama in 2008, offer strong encouragement.
When Clinton ran the first time, Kay Hale, 62, a school bus driver, worried that Clinton cannot bring the country together and backed then-Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) for president. Now she says of Clinton, I think were ready for her now. ... I think shes proved herself. Shes earned it.
At the same time, these Democratic activists offered cautionary warnings, saying Clinton must run a different kind of campaign and show a warmer side of her personality if she hopes to be successful.
I think shes going to have trouble with the middle class, said Charles Crawley, 60, a technical writer. She went to Wellesley College, Yale Law School, and from that point on shes been in the upper class. She may have middle-class parents, but that was a long time ago.
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Iowa Democrats see Hillary Clinton through new lens