TEMPE, Ariz. – Looking out to a theater full of motivated college students, Hillary Rodham Clinton said their generation showed great promise as “open-minded and tolerant” Americans ready to step forward for an important cause.
“We are going to make sure the Millennial Generation really is the participation generation,” Clinton said in a speech at Arizona State University, hosting more than 1,000 students for the annual Clinton Global Initiative University conference.
As she considers a 2016 presidential campaign, she has appeared at colleges packed with students who could help power a second White House bid. In 2008, she wasn’t their first choice during the Democratic primaries; young voters supported Barack Obama by wide margins. So if there is another campaign, their backing could prove instrumental.
At universities, she raises the kind of powerful symbolism – her potential breakthrough as the first female president of the United States – that helped propel Obama’s history-making campaign to become the nation’s first black president.
“It seems like she’s ready to get things done,” said Alex Blum, a 25-year-old graduate student at Arizona State.
At Tufts University, Blum helped organize college students for Obama in 2008. He said while many of his friends and classmates still support Obama, they see Clinton’s experience as an asset in succeeding where the president has struggled.
That view wasn’t always the case.
Clinton was hampered by her 2002 vote in the Senate to authorize the Iraq war, which young Democrats vociferously opposed. While both campaigns offered the potential of a barrier-breaking presidency, she often played up her experience and competency more than her gender.
Super PACs such as Ready for Hillary are trying to build on the voting coalition Obama put in place. The group’s website encourages activists to use social networks like Facebook and Twitter as an organizing tool, identifying potential Clinton supporters long before a campaign begins.
Clinton encourages students to get involved in the world around them, touching on the themes of equality and opportunity that have been a hallmark of Obama’s message.
How young voters perceive Clinton could shape how Republicans would challenge her.
Some potential Republican candidates, most notably Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, have raised the Monica Lewinsky scandal of Bill Clinton’s presidency.
Others have hoped to paint a generational contrast between Clinton, 66, and a likely younger Republican field that could include Paul, fellow Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. All came of age during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
Republicans also have signaled their interest of using Clinton’s post-White House life, in which she often travels by private jet and is paid six-figures for speeches, to portray her as far removed from the daily problems of most Americans.
When the former first lady told auto dealers in January she hadn’t driven a car since 1996, Republicans pounced, offering it up as a sign of someone out of step with most voters.
The ability to relate to others, Republicans contend, could be a potent argument with many young voters and recent college graduates, who have endured high unemployment during the slow economic recovery.
“It’s hard to make the sale that Hillary has firsthand experience of the problems that young people are facing with the economy,” said Tim Miller, executive director of America Rising, a Republican super PAC that has tracked Clinton’s every move.
