Back at Yale, Clinton at her best

NEW HAVEN -- No, she didn’t cry today, despite early reports to the contrary. But yes, she did show her compassionate side, and her wonky side. All to her benefit.

Hillary Clinton returned today to the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked as a law student, and led a discussion about family issues with a dozen women gathered around a table. It was an interesting tactic for the campaign to return on the eve of Super Tuesday to a pitch focused to women.

The small setting allowed only a few voters to see her in person, but it put her in a very flattering light for the TV cameras. She doesn’t come across as well at mega rallies, especially when her voice is shot, as it is right now.

Clinton held the same kind of roundtable right before the New Hampshire primary, and that’s when she had the original teary-eyed moment.

This time, an old colleague from her Yale days, Penn Rhodeen, gave an emotional introduction, in which he described her as he first met her, wearing purple, a sheepskin coat and bellbottoms: “You looked wonderful and so 1972.”

He gushed about her advocacy for children – a major campaign talking point – and then choked up as he said, “Now we hope that you, our incomparable Hillary, will be president of the United States.”

Clinton was definitely moved, and may have gotten a tiny bit misty, but nothing more. She was totally in control and a bit jokey as she said, “I said I would not tear up but already we’re not on that path.”

The women around the table shared personal woes and policy concerns. One said she was left choosing between whether to heat her house or pay for her son’s physical therapy so he could play basketball.

Between fits of coughing and breaks in her tired voice, Clinton hit a lot of predictable lines from her stump speech. But she also sounded serious and knowledgeable when she commented on the nitty-gritty of policy, for example, to a woman talking about the high cost of health care: “It shocks me that you’re paying $12,000 a year, because that is the cost of the average family plan.”