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Chelsea Clinton told a room packed with University of Wisconsin students at Memorial Union Monday afternoon that her mother would ?revolutionize the way we think about college affordability.?
Clinton took questions from the full house for more than an hour on the policy positions of her mother?s presidential campaign as just one of the deluge of candidates and their surrogates visiting Wisconsin before the state?s Feb. 19 primary.
Clinton said her mother would be visiting Madison before the primary, though she didn?t know when.
?I think you may see more than you may want of my mom and her family, actually,? Clinton said.
Students for Clinton Chair Erica Buthmann estimated the crowd topped 600.
?Just walking through the room at the end of the event, people went up to Chelsea telling her they came in undecided, and they left knowing they were supporting Hillary,? Buthmann said.
On the topic of college affordability, Clinton praised her mother?s work to increase the maximum amount for Pell Grants and her proposals to streamline the process of applying for financial aid and expand Americorps, a poverty-fighting program in which students can earn college funds.
?She wants colleges to pledge that what you pay your freshman year is what you should pay for all four years,? Clinton added.
Clinton also won applause from the audience when she said her mother planned on ?ending the war on science and supporting stem cell research.?
Questions on gay rights also received detailed responses from Clinton, who said in the long-term her mother would work to end ?discrimination? in the federal income tax code so same-sex couples are treated equally.
?Immediately, she can extend benefits to the 9 million federal employees and their partners, and she can end ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell,?? Clinton said.
She added her mother plans to strengthen hate crime legislation and establish a civil rights department to enforce that legislation.
Clinton also fielded a question from a student bearing a sign that read, ?Hillary Is Pro-War.? She defended her mother?s voting record at the beginning of the war in Iraq.
?She says if she could have ended the war yesterday, she would have,? Clinton said. ?She was the first person running for president to write to the Pentagon and say, ?What are you doing to plan to end this war”
UW senior Victoria Vasys said she found Clinton to be well-spoken and enjoyed the straightforward answers she gave the crowd.
?If Hillary is going to act on everything that Chelsea talked about today, I think we?ll have a much better America,? Vasys said. ?It feels like a lot of times questions get skirted, so it was pretty nice to get some honest answers.?
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will hold a rally tonight at the Kohl Center, which supporters expect to be packed. The event is free, and doors open at 6 p.m.
UW graduate student Kelley Hess said she attended the Obama rally in Madison last October.
?I want to know specific goals in someone?s campaign and someone?s presidency,? Hess said. ?For me personally, I think this was much more effective.?
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk gave the event a local spin, introducing Clinton. Falk praised her for working hard at school like the students in the crowd rather than falling back on the privilege of her background.
?She?s not doing the safe thing; she?s doing the hard thing ? just like her mom,? Falk said.