Clinton files in NH; talks Iran, gender
Posted: Friday, November 02, 2007 2:03 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones and NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
CONCORD, NH --
Clinton filed here for the New Hampshire primary on the last day possible, attracting hundreds of supporters to the state House steps. And in a news conference after the event, she answered questions on how her gender might be affecting the race, on Iran, on immigration and the drivers' license issue she stumbled on in Tuesday's debate, and on criticism about the lack of media access to her.
Asked if she was being treated differently because she's a woman, Clinton said she didn't think her opponents were piling on because she's a woman, but rather because she's winning. On Iran, she repeated recent statements that her vote to call the country's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization was not a vote to authorize using force against the country. And when asked what she thought about Obama's proposal to deal directly with Iran's leadership, she said there would be opportunities for the president to be involved in diplomacy with the country, but that it had to be planned and managed.
Clinton added that talking directly with Ahmadinejad could undermine and short circuit the diplomatic process, and that the army and the Quds Force were not under his control. "I do not believe the president should initially be engaged in personal diplomacy. I don't think that's the smart course to take," she said. "I don't think you promise without preconditions for the president to meet with the leaders of antagonistic states and get nothing in return, and you thereby undermine even or short circuit the diplomatic process."
For her filing, the New Hampshire secretary of state's office was mobbed by reporters, photographers, and camera crews -- some of whom arrived hours before the event and stood on desks in the small office to get a good shot. The media stood behind a velvet rope as they watched her file. No other candidate has received the velvet rope treatment.
Clinton joked when she entered the room that were not "as many people here when I did this twice before." A supporter shouted, "She's in" at the moment the senator signed the paper.
"I couldn't be happier or prouder to be throwing my hat into the ring," Clinton later said at the news conference following the filing. She joked several times about not knowing yet when the state's primary would be.
