Davenport, Iowa
Hillary Clinton kicked off her Hawkeye State bus tour in the shadow of her husband, Bill, who made his 2016 campaign-trail debut in New Hampshire to stump for his wife. Bill Clinton’s appearances have already earned a ton of media attention from major outlets. Back here in Iowa, though, Hillary was left recycling one-liners from the former president.
At a rally Monday afternoon at the Davenport fairgrounds, Clinton argued the economy performs better under Democratic presidents than under Republican ones, and pointed out both of the Democratic presidents of the last 35 years took over in economic recessions begun during Republican administrations.
“In my husband’s case, he inherited a recession, the debt of the country had been quadrupled in the prior 12 years and he really had to get to work,” Clinton said. “I remember he was asked shortly after the election by somebody, ‘What is it you uniquely bring to Washington?’ He said, ‘Well, arithmetic.'”
The “arithmetic” line is one the former president also used at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
In Davenport, Hillary Clinton also said she “knows” both of the last two Democratic presidents—the other being Barack Obama, who beat her in the 2008 Iowa caucuses and later tapped her to be secretary of state. The Democratic frontrunner cast her mission as continuing Obama’s legacy on a variety of issues, like gun control, climate change, and health care. She also warned that many of the executive orders Obama has issued to address those issues would be in danger if the GOP wins the White House in 2016.
“They can be undone on Day One by a Republican president,” she said.
