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 Clinton, who launched her 2016 White House bid on Sunday, held a
roundtable discussion with a small group of students and educators
and said she wants to "begin a conversation" with Americans on the
road to the election.
"There is something wrong when hedge fund managers pay lower tax
rates than nurses or the truckers that I saw on I-80 as I was
driving here over the last two days," Clinton said, perched on a
stiff metal chair in the automotive shop of a community college.
Some hedge fund managers and private equity firm partners, among the
wealthiest financiers on Wall Street, benefit from a tax code
loophole that lets them pay the capital gains tax rate, which is
lower than the ordinary tax rate, on large portions of their
incomes.
Clinton also repeated her concerns, first voiced on Sunday, that
chief executives make 300 times more than the average worker, and
sympathized with students discussing the high cost of a college
education.
 "People are struggling," Clinton said at Kirkwood Community College.
"I want to stand up and fight for people so they can not just get
by, but they can get ahead and stay ahead."
For Clinton it was the first test of her 2016 campaign strategy to
avoid big crowds early on and focus on intimate settings where she
can interact directly with voters.
Aides hope the approach will counter the perception of entitlement
that haunted Clinton's failed 2008 presidential bid and answer
criticism that she is out of touch with the everyday concerns of
voters.
Clinton's Iowa campaign manager, Matt Paul, told reporters they
would see the candidate in much smaller settings than expected. "We
want to listen," Paul said.
On Tuesday, that left Clinton sitting at a table, smiling and
chatting with a small group of students, an instructor and the
community college's president. Clinton touted a four-part agenda
to strengthen families, bolster the economy, improve U.S. security
and resolve the political dysfunction of Washington, including
removing anonymous big-money donations from the system even if that
required a constitutional amendment.
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Afterwards, the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of
state smiled cheerfully as students and teachers gathered around for
a photo with one of the most recognizable women in the world.
Clinton rolled into Iowa after a two-day, 16-hour ride from her home
in Chappaqua, New York. She managed to mostly stay out of the media
glare during the trip in a converted van, accompanied by a few aides
and a security detail.
But that changed once she reached Iowa, a political battleground
that holds the first presidential nominating contest in early 2016.
Her first stop was a coffee shop in Le Claire, Iowa, where
journalists watched her order a masala chai tea.
She then spent an hour talking to a young mother, high school
student and college student out of the earshot of journalists before
taking a short walk with the local mayor.
Clinton returns to Iowa as the commanding Democratic front-runner
and the only declared candidate for the party's presidential
nomination in 2016.
But she will have to overcome memories of her losing campaign in the
state in 2008, when she finished third behind then-Senator Barack
Obama and former Senator John Edwards.
Clinton plans another campaign event with small business owners in
Iowa on Wednesday.
(Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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