"Presidential race heats up in Seattle with visit from Hillary Clinton"

Seattle P-I:

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."

	Joshua Trujillo / P-I
From left, Cassie Johnson, Matthew Lundh and Kenny Brake share their opinions of U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton during a visit by the Senator and presidential hopeful at Benaroya Hall on Monday in Seattle.

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.

She crammed at least four events -- raising money for her campaign as well as for the state Democratic Party -- into an overnight visit after campaigning earlier Monday in Fresno, Calif., and attending a private reception in the San Francisco Bay Area.

State Democratic Chairman Dwight Pelz told the audience that Clinton's appearance had turned the Magnuson Awards ceremony into "the most successful event in the history of the Washington State Democratic Party." The party sold 1,200 tickets at $100 or more and took in an estimated $150,000.

Before that event, Clinton met with 36 people at the Seattle home of Ben Waldman, a former Microsoft vice president. Waldman said he has raised more than $100,000 for her campaign.

Seattle shipping executive Stan Barer held another fund-raiser, a $2,300-per-person dinner, for her at his Laurelhurst home after the Magnuson event. And the senator is speaking at a $2,300-a-head breakfast at the Westin Bellevue Hotel Tuesday morning. She reportedly will speak to Microsoft employees at the Redmond campus afterward before leaving the state.

		Scott Eklund / P-I
	Ali Kainber, 5, of Olympia shows his support for Hillary Clinton outside Benaroya Hall. Clinton was the special speaker at the 14th Annual Washington State Democrats Warren G. Magnuson award ceremony and auction held in Seattle on Monday.

Rep. Jay Inslee, one of three co-chairmen of the candidate's Washington state campaign, noted in introducing her to the Benaroya audience that Republican presidential candidates, at their most recent event, derisively invoked Clinton's name 36 times, and added, "It's clear these men are afraid of Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Clinton is the presidential candidate Republicans most love to hate, and the Washington State Republican Party sought to capitalize on that sentiment among its local troops on Monday.

The GOP encouraged conservative demonstrators to march against Clinton outside Benaroya Hall while she addressed the Democrats. The party's Web site even offered pizza to protesters as well as car pools to give them rides from central pickup locations.

"Bring your creative signs and raw enthusiasm," the anti-Clintonites were urged.

They did. Outside Benaroya, about two dozen young protesters chanted "USA! USA!" and carried signs that said, as one did, "Re-defeat Communism. Say no to Hillary."

The mostly young conservative demonstrators had to compete for space along Second Avenue, however, with mostly older leftist demonstrators, one holding a sign that said, "War monger Hillary is just George W. Bush in a skirt."

State Republican Chairman Luke Esser issued a statement citing Clinton's supposed "two-step strategy for Washington state: 1) raise campaign cash today, 2) raise taxes tomorrow."

"The cost of a Hillary Clinton presidency would be astronomical," Esser said. "Though we are more than a year away from the 2008 presidential election, Hillary has already proposed over $723 billion in new government spending. How does she plan to pay for all these new programs? Washington residents better hold on to their wallets."

Howie P.S.: I am pleased that Hillary helped to fill the "coffers" for the state Democratic party.