Clinton looks ahead to fall campaign

By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff

Hillary hearts New Hampshire.

Not surprising, exactly, since it's the first primary state, but Senator Clinton stressed her affection for the Granite State in a brief phone interview about her plans for this weekend's campaign swing.

To kick off the fall campaign, she and husband Bill will hold rallies in Concord and Portsmouth on Sunday before traveling to Iowa on Labor Day.

In 1992, it was New Hampshire where Bill Clinton, then an underdog candidate, became the "Comeback Kid."

Today, Hillary Clinton is leading in the polls in the state, but she said it's the stories she has heard on her 13 campaign visits that keep her "fired up" about why she's running.

She talked about a woman whose daughter had to stay in college while she was dying of cancer, in order to keep her health insurance. She talked about a family being evicted from their home amidst the mortgage crisis. And about sick children she met at Dartmouth's medical center who might benefit from stem cell research.

"I have seen the need for change in a very real and personal way," she said. "Their stories will be front and center in my White House."

As the campaign intensifies this fall, Clinton said she would focus more on what her priorities would be as president, and how she would accomplish them.