Clinton Detours to Boston on Way to R.I.

A standing-room only crowd of over 1,400 contributors gathered in Boston yesterday to hear Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton speak with the Rhode Island primary just eight days away.

With event tickets costing $25 for students—half the price of general admission—Clinton highlighted her appreciation for the student support.

“You deserve to have a president who is not just thinking about the next election but the next generation,” she said.

Harvard Students for Hillary brought 14 volunteers to the event.

“Our group made a very big difference in turning the tide in Massachusetts, and I think every one of us is deeply proud,” said Ari S. Ruben ’08, the group’s director. “I think we were the young people she talked about.”

In her half-hour speech, Clinton emphasized her health care experience, contrasting her own policies with those of her democratic rival and Harvard Law School alumnus Barack Obama.

“I think health care is a right, not a privilege,” she said. “That is at the root of my distinction with Senator Obama. My plan will cover everyone—his plan will not.”

Clinton added that her plan would call for at most six or seven percent of individual income to be spent on health care.

“I’m not running for president to put band-aids on our problems—I’m running to solve them,” she said. “Why on earth would a candidate to be the democratic nominee basically parrot the talking points of the Republicans and the health insurance industry and say we don’t have to have universal health care?”

Clinton further criticized the Obama campaign for “misleading people about what I do.”

“Obama, enough is enough,” she said. “Let’s get real here and compare exactly what we’re gonna stand for.”

Clinton cited Obama’s previous alignment with Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy bill and credit card companies, eliciting boos from the crowd.

The auditorium was packed with an enthusiastic audience, which one Clinton supporter described as an “across the board” demographic. “There were definitely a lot of women, slightly more women than men,” said Siri F.A. Uotila ’10, a volunteer with Harvard Students for Hillary.

Signs peppered the crowd, some with creative slogans like “A woman’s place is in the house...the White House!!!”

But not all Harvard students who attended the event have pledged allegiance to Clinton—let alone the Democratic Party.

Junior Roy T. Willey IV said that although he is undecided between Clinton and Republican hopeful John McCain, he has decided against Obama.

“I don’t want a rockstar, I want a president,” he said. “But I think a lot of people my age want a rockstar.”

—Staff writer Vidya B. Viswanathan can be reached at viswanat@fas.harvard.edu.