Viva Bar was packed last Friday night with the usual mix of students and 20-somethings, along with a few unexpected guests - some children, several senior citizens and Chelsea Clinton, who was in the bar to stump for her mother, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Clinton, poised but losing her voice after a day-long tour through the Ocean State, took questions from the audience for about 45 minutes, touting her mother's legislative experience and efforts at bipartisanship in the Senate.
Chelsea Clinton's visit comes in advance of the state's primary contest this Tuesday. In Rhode Island, Hillary Clinton has a 15-point advantage over her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., according to a University poll released last Monday.
Clinton answered most questions with detailed explanations of what her mother has accomplished or would accomplish in office. She also said Hillary Clinton is "the only candidate running who will tell you how she's paying for everything."
Clinton highlighted President Bush's budget deficit, which she said "affects our ability to do everything and anything."
When asked about "a woman's right to choose," Clinton replied her mother wants abortion to "be safe, legal and rare," and added that other issues like unequal pay across race and gender would also be an important priority under her mother's presidency.
Clinton also explained her mother's commitment to "ending the war yesterday," "green-collar jobs" - jobs in environmental initiatives such as alternative energy - and involving the United States in multilateral agreements like the Kyoto Protocol.
She pointedly compared her mother's plan for universal health care to that of rival Obama, only referring to him as "the man she is running against." Obama's plan mandates health-care coverage only for children.
Clinton praised her mother as a parent, after being asked why she is taking a more public role in her mother's campaigning efforts than she has in the past. But, she added, "I am not here out of gratitude. I am here because I fundamentally believe that we need change."
Despite the audience's serious questions, the atmosphere in the bar was mostly light. When two drinks spilled around her, Clinton called spilling water the night's "motif."
"Maybe soon I will be pouring water on my head," Clinton said, before quickly taking the comment back. "That would be weird."
An attendee asked for anecdotal evidence of Hillary Clinton's sense of humor on the campaign trail, to which Chelsea Clinton replied, "My mother laughs every day." Her mother was glad the writers' strike was over, she said, so the candidate and former President Bill Clinton could watch new episodes of the television show Grey's Anatomy, which they both love.
Viva's owner, Andy Mitrelis, said he was honored to host a Clinton at his restaurant, where Chelsea said she had eaten as a high school student visiting Brown. "I do love the Clintons," Mitrelis said.
"I didn't know what to expect, but I think she did a great job," said Jeremy Feigenbaum '11, a volunteer at the event who registered attendees to canvass for the senator. "She had really good command of the issues."
