In final pitch, Hillary Clinton emphasizes experience, effectiveness
MASON CITY, Iowa -- With less than a week to go before the Iowa caucus, Hillary Clinton is making her closing argument: That she can actually get the job done as president.
"The American people can't afford to wait for ideas that sound good on paper but will never make it in the real world," she says in a new television ad released Wednesday by her campaign. "We can make real progress right now."
The ad, one of two new spots that will run in Iowa this week, echoes the message that Clinton has been working to perfect as she has criss-crossed the state to turn out the vote. It's a departure from the sharp, if sometimes veiled, language she has used to describe her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, at campaign stops as recently as last week. Instead, the ad focuses inward, on her own experience over decades of public service.
It also seeks to emphasize the qualities that many Iowans have named as the most important factor in their decision to support her.
"I think Bernie is great, but I think Hillary's the better candidate, especially on the world stage," Gary Chariper, a retired plumber from Cedar Rapids, told CBS News in an interview Sunday in Marion. He caucused for Clinton eight years ago and plans to do so again on Monday.
Carlotta Ellison, 59, said that she feels Clinton would be more effective than President Obama.
"She's got a lot of experience," said Ellison, who lives in Decorah, Iowa. "She's been in the system. She knows the system. So she can really get things done."
Boone native Abby Noelk, 24, echoed that message when she heard Clinton speak in North Liberty, Iowa.
"She would go into the White House being ahead of other candidates," she said. "I don't know how orientation works, but she could skip all that."
Implicit in the ads -- which do not show or mention Sanders by name -- is the Clinton campaign's argument that their candidate is best prepared to sit in the Oval Office and tackle the full range of unpredictable challenges that reach the president's desk.
Ryan McDaniel, 18, said he was planning to caucus for Sanders until he saw Clinton make this case in person in Marshalltown on Tuesday night.
"I'm realizing she does have a lot more experience with foreign policy," said McDaniel, whose mother, Maria, a longtime Clinton supporter, encouraged him to attend the event in their town. "She still has a lot more experience with domestic policy, because she's been a senator before. She has both sides of the coin of being a president."
It's also the argument that has many of Clinton's supporters sure that she will win on caucus night, despite a real challenge from Sanders.
"I don't believe the polls," said Mary Chariper, who attended Clinton's event in Marion with her husband. "I think Hillary's gonna do well and she's gonna take the state of Iowa."