Hillary to Dominate Iowa Event
November 10, 2003

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton will be doing a whole lot more than just speaking Saturday at Iowa's Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. In fact, she'll dominate the event.

Though Sen. Clinton still denies she has any 2004 presidential plans, the nine announced Democratic candidates are expected to politely applaud while she addresses the crowd more than a half-dozen times during the evening.

Reports Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford, "According to the tentative agenda, Clinton will speak eight times. She will give introductory remarks and then separately introduce each of the Democratic presidential candidates as they come forward to give speeches."

Crawford notes that Hillary's appearances are listed on the published schedule with the phrase "Sen. Clinton takes the stage," words that can't help but irk the announced candidates.

With Democrats backing Sen. Clinton 4 to 1 over her nearest competitor in the latest presidential preference poll, her reception is expected to be enthusiastic, to say the least. Meanwhile, the rest of the Democrat pack will once again be relegated to political wallflower status.

At similar candidate cattle call held in Manhattan last July, the former first lady stole the show while presidential hopefuls such as John Kerry and Joe Lieberman were forced to grit their teeth and smile. Ex-Vice President Al Gore, who was then still in the race and leading in the polls, had previously begged off, citing a scheduling conflict.

It later turned out that Gore had no such scheduling conflict, but was instead dining with friends at a Manhattan hotel a few blocks away. Evidently, with Hillary on hand, he knew what to expect.