Clinton rallies staff at Cedar Rapids pizzeria

CEDAR RAPIDS - The nation needs to elect a Democratic president to dig it out of the hole created by past Republican presidents and leaders, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton told her staff and volunteers at a local pizza restaurant Friday afternoon.

The small gathering was one of her first stops on a full day excursion in the city before she wraps up her trip Friday night at the Iowa Democratic Hall of Fame Celebration.

That will be the first time the five Democratic presidential candidates share the same stage.

'This is such a consequential election,” Clinton told about 100 Iowa staff and volunteers at the newly opened Need Pizza downtown. 'You know, we've had five presidents in the last 35 years. …. I've known the two Democrats pretty well, and I have seen how hard each had to work because of what they inherited from their predecessors.”

She mentioned her husband, former President Bill Clinton, saying he inherited an 'exploding deficit” that threatened to undermine the country's economy.

'I am old fashioned in this way, but I think when you see what works you ought to keep doing what works, and contrarily, when you see what doesn't work, you ought to stop doing it,” Clinton said. 'I will stand up and take on the other side over their failed economic policies. They don't work for America. They weaken America. They only favor the wealthiest among us.”

This is Clinton's second run for the nation's highest office. She lost the Democratic nomination in 2008 to current President Barack Obama.

The trip marks one of many of Clinton's trips to Iowa, six months ahead of the state's February caucuses.

Fellow Democrats Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders were also scheduled to hold events in the area before the Hall Of Fame celebration.

On the GOP side, Scott Walker spoke at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and Lindsey Graham participated in a forum at the Veterans Memorial Building the same day. Father south, Mike Huckabee made a stop at the Hamburg Inn in Iowa City.

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