The Political Chase

Hillary cries again before critical election

This crying just before a critical election is becoming quite supsect.

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton had an emotional reunion Monday with a colleague from the early days of her legal career as a child advocate.

The moment came as she revisited her law school days while hosting a campaign event at the Yale Child Study Center where she first pursued her interest in child advocacy.

Penn Rhodeen, a New Haven public interest lawyer who worked with Clinton as a student, recalled her showing up on his doorstep wearing purple bellbottoms.

“It was so 1972,” he recalled, praising Clinton for her longtime interest in helping children.

“Here is the abiding truth we know _ you have always been a champion for children. Welcome home, dear friend. We are so proud of you,” he said.

Clinton responded emotionally to Rhodeen’s praise, at one point wiping her eyes with her hand. But unlike her teary-eyed moment in Portsmouth, N.H., her voice never broke and she tried make light of her emotion.

“I said I would not tear up. Already we’re not on that path,” Clinton replied to laughs.

Some credited her New Hampshire display of emotion _ during a discussion of how she is affected by campaigning for president _ with aiding her comeback in that state from an earlier defeat by rival Barack Obama in Iowa.