Former first lady of Arkansas Hillary Rodham Clinton returned to the state on Saturday — this time as the front-runner of the Democratic presidential nomination.
Headlining the Jefferson-Jackson dinner, the Arkansas Democratic party’s biggest fundraiser of the year, she drew about 2,000 to Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Clinton rehashed her economic agenda she rolled out on Monday, touched on her advocacy of women’s issues and called Donald Trump’s disparagement of U.S. Sen. John McCain’s military service “shameful.”
“Finally, a candidate whose hair gets more attention than mine,” she said, referring to Trump. “But there's nothing funny about the hate he is spewing at immigrants and their families, and now the insults he’s directed at a genuine war hero, Sen. John McCain."
Speaking just hours earlier at the Iowa Family Leadership Summit, Trump said McCain is only considered a war hero because “he was captured."
The former U.S. secretary of state's lines about women's issues prompted a standing ovation and the most boisterous round of applause from the crowd of Arkansas Democrats.
She said paid leave and child care are “family issues, they're economic issues, they’re American issues.”
“Some people think, ‘there she goes again with the women’s issues.’ Well, I am going to keep going,” she said. “And yes, I’m going to keep fighting for equal pay for equal work.”
Months after Republicans swept state elections, she acknowledged how Arkansas has transformed, politically, since she served as first lady for 12 years.
“Here in Arkansas last year was a hard one for Democrats,” she said. “But don’t forget, voters did come out and pass an increase in the minimum wage.”
Voters' support of higher minimum wage is reason for Arkansas Democrats to feel optimistic, she said.
“Arkansas voters know paychecks need to grow, they know the economy is still stacked for those at the top,” she said.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe also acknowledged the plight of his party in the state, but said he's also hopeful.
He said he believes Clinton can win the state in 2016, but “it’ll be an uphill battle."
“She has to connect with people,” he said.
Read Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
