Bill, Chelsea urge Iowans to Caucus for Hillary Clinton

Bill Clinton, former President of the United States of America, and daughter Chelsea Clinton campaign for Hillary Clinton. They spoke at Lincoln High School in Des Moines, Iowa. Bill and Chelsea encouraged suppoters to go out and caucus.

Alex Hanson

DES MOINES — Hillary Clinton dispatched her top campaign surrogate — former President Bill Clinton — and daughter Chelsea to Iowa just over two weeks from the caucus.

The former president and Chelsea Clinton gave supporters packed into Lincoln High School in Des Moines their pitch on why they believe the former secretary of state is best suited to be the Democratic nominee, and ultimately, president of the United States.

Several campaign organizers and volunteers also told the crowd their personal story on why they joined the campaign, saying they believe Hillary Clinton is a “fighter” for the middle class and will keep the country safe.

Chelsea Clinton said that she cannot think of anyone more suited to take the job as president than her mother — and Chelsea Clinton said now that she is a mother of a daughter, and expecting another child, this is the first election she will vote as a mother raising a family.

“I can’t imagine a better role model for me,” Chelsea Clinton said to more than 500 people packed into the event.

She then handed over the microphone to the only person who has known Hillary Clinton longer than herself, Bill Clinton.

Bill Clinton opened by asking members of the audience if they tuned into President Obama’s State of the Union, saying he thought it was the right message for Americans to hear.

Bill Clinton railed against Republican presidential candidates, saying the GOP’s policies regarding Syrian refugees and Muslims is the wrong approach.

Since he’s now retired, he said he reads at least two hours of news every day, and to illustrate his shot at the GOP’s take on refugees and Muslims, he recalled a story he read in the New York Daily News in which a gas station attendant fended off a store robbery suspect, then went home and prayed that his family could enjoy the same freedoms of himself.

“That’s much more representative of Muslims in this country,” Bill Clinton said.

He also touted Hillary Clinton’s stance on a wide range of women’s issues, such as equal pay and paid leave, adding they are economic issues, as well, which will benefit the U.S. economy.

Reflecting on President Obama’s recent executive actions on gun control, Bill Clinton said there is no conspiracy theory to confiscate guns in the country, and even told the story of being a gun owner himself and using them for recreation purposes.

“There is not a single thing that President Obama has proposed that would do anything to undermine people’s rights to hunt, shoot and protect themselves,” Bill Clinton said. “They’re convinced the president is going to be at their door in a black outfit, with a black helicopter, and confiscate all their guns.”

Bill Clinton also mentioned two GOP senators — Lindsey Graham, who ran for president, and John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee — who worked with and compromised with Hillary Clinton while she was a U.S. senator, which Bill Clinton said showed she could work with a Republican Congress if elected president.

Bill and Chelsea’s campaign trip to Iowa, which included several stops, comes a little longer than two weeks before Iowa’s Caucus, scheduled for Feb. 1. An average of polls from Real Clear Politics shows Hillary Clinton leading Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders by 4 percent in Iowa, but the most recent Iowa poll from The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics has her leading, but within the margin of error, at 2 percent.