Clinton brings a message with passion to Seattle

Photo Caption - Hillary Clinton was the special guest speaker at the 14th Annual Washington State Democrats Warren G. Magnuson award ceremony and auction held at Banaroya Hall in Seattle on Monday. Here she greets supporters following her speech.


By NEIL MODIE
P-I REPORTER

Sen. Hillary Clinton told pumped-up Democrats in Seattle the agenda she would pursue as president Monday night and said: "I'm not running because I am a woman. I'm running because I believe I am the best-qualified and most experienced person."

Making her first visit as a presidential candidate to the only state in the country with a woman governor and two women U.S. senators -- all Democrats -- Clinton exclaimed, "I love being in a place that doesn't mind having strong women in charge."

The New York senator and front-runner for her party's presidential nomination was interrupted by frequent standing ovations during a 26-minute speech loaded with red-meat applause lines for her audience at the state Democratic Party's annual Magnuson Awards ceremony at Benaroya Hall.

She said she had four broad goals for her presidency: "restoring America's leadership around the world"; "rebuilding a strong and prosperous middle class"; "reforming the government and fixing the damage that has been done by George Bush and Dick Cheney"; and "reclaiming the future for our children, perhaps the most important goal of all."

She said that after she is elected, she would ask "members of both parties to travel around the world with a very simple message: The era of cowboy diplomacy is over." She said her administration would speak the "language of diplomacy, not the threat of war."

One of the loudest ovations came when she asked, "Are you ready for a president and vice president who respect the Constitution of the United States?"

"And are you ready to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home ...?" she asked as applause again drowned out her words.

Democrats leaped to their feet to applaud again when she declared, "On my first day as president, I will sign an executive order reversing the ban (by Bush) on ethical stem cell research."

Speaking with more passion and less of a programmed tone than she has projected in some of her speeches, Clinton made a solid hit with her Democratic audience in a state where her campaign fundraising has lagged behind that of her two main rivals for the party's nomination, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.

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