Clinton says she’s ready to be president
New York senator touts change as Iowa showdown nears
By MIKE GLOVER
Associated Press
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 10:55 AM PST
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| Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. speaks in Ames, Iowa, Tuesday. |
DES MOINES, Iowa — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton will make her closing argument to Iowa voters tonight during a televised message in which she tells them to ‘‘take the first step’’ toward changing the direction of the country by voting for her at the caucuses.
‘‘After all the town meetings, the pie and coffee, it all comes down to this: Who is ready to be president and ready to start solving the big challenges we face on Day One,’’ Clinton says in the two-minute appeal to be broadcast during evening news programs on the eve of the caucuses.
The former first lady and senator from New York recounts her months of stumping through Iowa, noting ‘‘the stories you have shared will always stay with me.’’ Iowa, first among the states to choose the nominees for president, holds its caucuses Thursday night.
‘‘I know you have waited a long time for a president who could hear you and see you,’’ Clinton says. ‘‘I would like to be that president. So I ask you to caucus for me tomorrow. Put on your coats and call up a friend and help me change America.’’
Clinton has bought two minutes of air time on the early evening local newscasts in every media market in the state. Her campaign provided a copy of the ad to The Associated Press.
‘‘As we start this new year, America is at a crossroads,” she says. ‘‘We’re a nation at war in a dangerous world. We have a faltering economy and 47 million people without health care.’’
Clinton talks directly to the camera as she summarizes her bid, arguing as she has on the stump that she alone has the experience — eight years as first lady and seven years in the Senate — to take command of the White House on Day One.
Simple and spare in production, her campaign tries to create the aura of an Oval Office address with the ad. In a close-up shot and seen only from the shoulders up, Clinton is seated and dressed in a brown suit jacket with what appear to be a window and table topped with flowers in a vase in the background.
‘‘I’m not running for president to put Band-Aids on our problems. I’m running to solve them,’’ she said, as she has many times at campaign events.
In retelling stories she heard while campaigning, Clinton adds a human touch to deflect criticism that she is cold and calculating. Most surveys show Clinton in a close and fluid three-way contest with rivals Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
