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Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., asked more than 3,000 people
Monday at Monona Terrace to think about who they would hire to run their
country.

Clinton urged her audience to compare electing a president
to hiring someone for a job, something that happens all the time in this
country, she said.

In her speech to University of Wisconsin students and
Madison residents, Clinton focused on issues ranging from her plan for
universal health care to ending the war in Iraq to the financial struggles many
Americans are facing at this time.

?I am passionately committed to health care,? Clinton said.
?Barack Obama is not.?

Clinton added the U.S. cannot be a competitive in a global
economy if there is no movement toward universal health care. She said the
country is smart enough and wealthy enough to grant everyone access to health
care.

?I believe (health care) is a moral right, and it is
unconstitutional to discriminate against sick people,? Clinton said.

Clinton said her proposal is to open up the health care plan
that gives members of Congress health care to all Americans. The plan will give
people affordable choices and coverage that will include mental health and
prevention care, she said.

?I really like her health care plan,? said Igor Kleytman, a
senior at UW. ?I am a nursing major, so I think it is definitely an important
plan to set in place for universal health care.?

Clinton also plans to make changes to the American economy.

?We have gone from a balanced budget to a huge deficit,?
Clinton said. ?President Bush introduced a [budget] with a $400 billion
deficit, and you know who will be paying for that ? all the young people. We
are going to get back to paying as we go.?

She also emphasized her plans to end the war in Iraq. If
elected, Clinton said she plans to assign her Secretary of Staff and her
advisers to put together a plan to pull American troops out of Iraq within 60
days.

She added she also plans to bring jobs that are being sent
to foreign countries back to the United States and American workers.

?We are going to rebuild America,? she said. ?Isn?t it time
we put Americans back to work building our own country again??

Clinton was introduced to the energetic crowd by several
Wisconsin leaders including Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, who stressed
the importance of Clinton?s plans for universal health care and policy of
diplomacy before force as some of the major reasons the senator has gained her
support.

U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, said supporting Hillary
Clinton is just an example of her belief that Americans can do anything.

Many students went to the event in preparation for the
Wisconsin primaries today.

?I?m not ready to commit just yet,? said UW graduate student
Nicole Lindenstein, who attended with a friend and said she will vote
Democratic in the Wisconsin primaries. ?We really like both, and so we wanted
to hear more.?

For some members of Clinton?s audience Monday, her speech
made up their minds as far as who to support.

?I was, overall, very impressed; one of the problems I have
been having so far with deciding who to vote for in the election is that Obama
speaks very well, but so far he has been very vague,? said UW student Nick
Rego. ?It?s really nice that Hillary addresses that and really goes into a lot
of detail about the things that she is promising.?