Ahead of first Iowa campaign event, Clinton makes surprise stop at LeClaire coffee house

LECLAIRE - Just two days after announcing she's running for president, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her first public campaign appearance at a small coffee shop here, meeting with surprised patrons and a trio of Democratic activists who thought they were meeting with a campaign staffer, but ended up with an hour of face-to-face time.

Clinton was on her way to an event in Monticello but overnighted at the Hotel Blackhawk in Davenport, then made her way to the Jones Street Java House. Afterward, she strolled along LeClaire's main downtown street with Mayor Bob Scannell, followed by a group of reporters and photographers as well as camera-wielding onlookers who showed up.

Clinton spent about an hour at the coffee shop, talking with Austin Bird, a student at St. Ambrose University, Sara Sedlacek of West Liberty, who works for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, and Carter Bell, the president of the University of Iowa College Democrats.

Clinton ordered drinks, inquired about the menu and, when told about the lunch menu, asked, 'How's that going for you?”

Afterward, she brushed off reporters' questions about her return to Iowa in light of the 2008 caucuses.

'We'll have lots of time to talk later,” she said.

The Clinton campaign's road trip to Iowa is part of an effort to do a smaller campaign in a state where, just eight years ago, she entered as the presumed favorite for the party's presidential nomination.

Surprised by then-first term Sen. Barack Obama, Clinton finished third in Iowa, behind Obama and John Edwards.

Her return to the state, with an event in Monticello Tuesday and Norwalk on Wednesday, is her first since making stops for 2014 candidates last fall - but her first as somebody now asking for the approval of Iowans for her own candidacy.

In a walk down LeClaire's main street after her coffee shop talk, Clinton was reminded of that history, when Karla Higgins approached her and told her she had been with Obama in 2008.

Clinton smiled and told her, 'Well, I hope I can convince you to work for me.”

Higgins told a reporter afterward she already is on board with Clinton.

'I want to continue with the change,” Higgins, of Eldridge, said. 'I think she can do it.”

One man in the coffee shop who hadn't shown up specifically to meet Clinton was Ron Leeper, a business owner from Clinton, who said his political leanings run in another direction.

'I kind of like Rand Paul,” he said.

Still, Leeper said he had a pleasant visit with Clinton.

'She's nice, very nice,” he said.

Sedlacek said Clinton and the trio inside the coffee shop talked about education, health care and child care. She noted she has a 15-month-old and that Clinton is a grandmother.

Sedlacek said she, too, is a Clinton supporter.

'I'd like to say I'm keeping my mind open, but I'm not. I'm in,” she said.

Iowa Republicans, meanwhile, greeted Clinton's first step onto the campaign trail in Iowa with an email, calling her a 'D.C. insider” who has been dogged by numerous controversies and was secretary of state for an administration they say has made the world 'more dangerous and unstable.”