By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

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Lane Hickenbottom Chelsea Clinton greets supporters while campaigning for her mother, Hillary Clinton. Chelsea spent about a half hour meeting people, signing autographs and providing photo opportunities after about a 50-minute question-and-answer session at the Howard Johnson Riverside Inn. Lane Hickenbottom Chelsea Clinton answers questions while campaigning for her mother Thursday at the Howard Johnson Riverside Inn. Click Thumbnails to View

Her appearance was the first in Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District by a representative from a 2008 presidential campaign.

In a style that was short on slogans and long on specifics, Clinton outlined her mother's positions on a variety of issues ranging from immigration to the environment to the war in Iraq.

She closed with a brief but personal explanation of her passion for her mother's campaign.

"There's no one else in the world that I believe in more and I trust more and I love more," she said. "And that's why I'm here talking to all of you."

For about 45 minutes, Clinton took questions from the audience of more than 200 who packed a small conference room in Grand Island's Howard Johnson Riverside Inn.

She never mentioned the name of her mother's Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, often comparing Hillary's policies with those of the Bush administration instead.

Central to her message was Hillary's focus on opening up the benefits of the middle class such as homeownership and affordable college education and health care to more Americans.

"When she's talking about the middle class, it is helping people stay in the middle class who are already there, and then expanding what we think of as being the bedrock of middle-class life," Clinton said.

The former first daughter stopped in Grand Island two days before Nebraska's first-ever Democratic caucuses. With the race for the Democratic nomination neck and neck, both the Clinton and Obama campaigns visited the state this week.

Obama spoke in Omaha on Thursday and his wife, Michelle, is scheduled to visit Lincoln today.

Several questioners thanked Clinton for taking the time to visit rural Nebraska.

"I'm from Arkansas originally, so let's not forget that," she responded to one man who thanked her for "being able to find outstate Nebraska."

The audience was initially boisterous, flooding the room with applause and upraised "Hillary for President" signs when Clinton entered the room.

But they calmed considerably once Clinton began speaking, applauding and cheering occasionally as she delineated her mother's policies and plans in a mellow voice for about 45 minutes. Afterward, she stayed for about half an hour, signing autographs and posing for photos, before heading to Omaha for an event this morning at Creighton University.

Clinton fielded questions on health care, education, Afghanistan, the economic stimulus package and private contractors in Iraq, among other topics.

She stressed her mother's ability to work for bipartisan legislation in the Senate and her intent to maintain strong diplomatic relations throughout the world, especially the Middle East.

Clinton often dug into the details of plans, describing their components and talking about how Hillary planned to fund them.

"She's the most fiscally conservative person running," she said. "She's the only person running who actually tells you exactly how she'll pay for everything."

She spoke often of her admiration for her mother, beginning several answers by saying, "One of the things I'm really proud of about my mom ... "

Afterward, several attendees said they were impressed with Clinton's knowledge and eloquence.

"I think Chelsea really was able to communicate to the crowd what her mom thought about a lot of the (issues)," said Donna Anderson of Columbus.

Anderson said she had wavered recently, but Thursday's session put her firmly in the Clinton camp because of Chelsea's explanation of her mother's views about health care and education.

Shari Krejci of Aurora came with her mother, Ardis Tesar, and her 2-year-old son, Cole, after hearing about the event on the news Thursday afternoon.

A second-grade teacher, Krejci said she liked what she heard about Hillary's plans to expand education beyond kindergarten.

She also thought Clinton's appearance alone was significant.

"I think it's great she made an effort to come out here," she said. "It makes us feel important to have someone pay attention to us like this."

Clinton stopped in Grand Island after two similar sessions Thursday afternoon in Lincoln. Plans for the visit, including the location, were finalized late Thursday morning between Clinton organizers and local Democratic officials.

Lisa Hannah of Grand Island, who helped the campaign organize the event, said it was about time this area saw a representative from a presidential campaign. She hoped the event will give the party momentum headed into Saturday's caucuses.

"People are already energized," Hannah said. "This is going to make a lot of them even more excited."