Sen. Clinton to visit IU on Friday

Hillary Clinton is coming. \nThe former First Lady will speak at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Assembly Hall to discuss the economy and student issues at a town hall-style meeting, her campaign announced Monday.\nWhen she takes the stage, Clinton will be the first candidate to formally address students on campus \nin the frenzied rush to win Indiana’s May 6 Democratic presidential primary. \nHer opponent, Barack Obama, made an unscheduled stop at the women’s Little 500 and Nick’s English Hut earlier this month but didn’t make any public comments.\nClinton’s speech is titled “Solutions for the American Economy.” Doors will open at 10:30 a.m.\nThe senator’s stop at IU will give students a chance to see a side of her that is not obvious on television, said sophomore AnnElyse Gibbons, the president of IU Students for Hillary Clinton. \n“When she speaks in person, she has the ability to speak directly to you even when she’s speaking to a crowd of 3,000 people,” Gibbons said. \nAn Indiana spokesman for Clinton’s campaign said the New York senator will target her talk to the thousands of IU students who will undoubtedly turn out to see her.\nClinton will focus on the economy, student financial aid and student debt, said Jonathan Swain, who works in Clinton’s Indiana press office.\nClinton will also speak to her voting base – blue collar Democrats in Monroe County who have watched as jobs have moved overseas in droves. The senator plans to specifically discuss General Electric’s plan to lay off some 900 local workers when it closes its Bloomington factory in 2009, he added.\nGibbons said she hopes to pack Assembly Hall with students of varying political views and leanings.\nAnd, given Obama’s strong pull with college students in previous contests, Gibbons thinks watching Clinton in person could help swing young voters into her camp.\n“I hope they have the opportunity to see Hillary speak and maybe they will come away feeling as strongly about her as they do about Obama,” she said. \nClinton’s trip to Bloomington is part of a three-day, six-city tour of Indiana which also takes her to Indianapolis, Gary, East Chicago, Fort Wayne and South Bend.\nAt the beginning of April, former President Bill Clinton gave a stump speech in Assembly Hall for his wife. Hillary Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, campaigned on campus for her mother at the end of March.\nAccording to the Clinton campaign, the three Clintons – Hillary, Bill and Chelsea – have made a combined 43 stops in 30 cities in Indiana since March 18.