Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Former President Bill Clinton greets supporters while campaigning for his wife, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, at the Carson City Fire Department Tuesday.
Former President Bill Clinton hit hard at universal health care and what he described as his wife, Hillary's, extensive experience in creating change, as he spoke to about 500 people in Carson City on Tuesday.
According to a number of those in the audience, many of them state and city employees, he was very effective in making them believers.
"She's the only candidate out of the field that can do any change in Washington," said Joe Foster, a retired educator.
He said Hillary has much more experience than the first-term senator from Illinois who, he said, won't be able to really change Washington until he gets that experience.
"Obama's a good candidate but he's about eight years too early."
"She has proved she can make changes," said former Carson Clerk-Treasurer Vaughn Smith. "She's done it."
He said that's why he's been working for the Clinton campaign.
"You have to be there to make some mistakes to learn from those mistakes," said Bob Boston. "The other guy hasn't been in there long enough."
His daughter Brandi, 20, said listening to the former president has convinced her to register and vote this time.
"I never thought my voice mattered," she said.
She said she's convinced now that it does.
Vickie Fox, of Reno, said Hillary has "shown she can do a better job."
"She has more experience," she said.
But she said health care is also important to her because she doesn't have coverage at present.
"You want somebody who cares about people and she does," she said.
Clinton drew repeated applause from the packed fire station on Stewart Street when he talked about his wife's push to provide health care for all Americans. He said opponents point out she failed in the early 1990s.
"I don't want you to forget she failed either because you need to know how your president will react to failure," he said.
Hillary's reaction, he said, was "she got up, dusted herself off and got back to work and the result was health care for 6 million children."
Dozens in the crowd sported badges proclaiming them "Nevada for Health Care Voters."
He said that's how she recovered from the Iowa loss, making New Hampshire a victory just five days later.
"She never stopped believing the American people need the changes she is advocating," he said.
He constantly painted her as the candidate who can accomplish change rather than just talk about it.
"I've never known anybody who was better at seeing a problem and figuring a way to make it better," he said.
He said that goes back to her days in law school when she worked to find out why some children were continually absent from school, discovering that many had disabilities and learning problems.
The result, he said, was a bill in Congress to provide for special education needs nationwide.
"What you need as president is someone who makes good things happen," he said.
After a 90 minutes at the fire house, the former president left Carson City for the debate scheduled in Las Vegas.
• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.