Only 2 people attend Clinton support meeting

COLUMBIA — Only two people showed up to a meeting in support of presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday night after an afternoon of severe thunderstorms.

Two disappointed members of the Boone County for Hillary Clinton Committee laid out strategies for backing the senator's campaign. The women met at the Focus On Learning Center, 110 N. Tenth St., and discussed door-to-door canvassing and calling voters, and they talked about how to get more volunteers to help before the Missouri primary on Feb. 5.

Committee chair Betty Wilson, an attorney-certified mediator, said the group normally consists of four to 20 people, including some MU students. They meet every two or three weeks. This is the first time the group has met since students went home for the holidays.

“I'm very, very sad for this," said Ene-Kaja Chippendale, president of Focus On Learning Center Inc..

A previous committee get-together was canceled in December because of ice storms.

Wilson said the committee is having problems recruiting volunteers to help Clinton's campaign and is looking forward to getting college students back to help.

Chippendale said she feels passionate about campaigning for Clinton and wishes to see a well-qualified woman president in her lifetime. She thinks Clinton is experienced and has extraordinary leadership qualities.

Wilson agrees, although she worries that the former first lady has become a target because she has so much experience.

"I was telling my husband that Clinton was like the 'smart girl' in fifth or sixth grade,” she said. “Nobody likes her because she's too smart."

Chippendale said she's even more motivated to help the Clinton campaign after Clinton's third-place finish in Iowa and her falling numbers in the polls.

Clinton finished behind Barack Obama and John Edwards last week in the Iowa caucuses. She reportedly teared up on Monday while campaigning in Portsmouth, N.H.

Chippendale said she wasn't bothered by Clinton's tears in New Hampshire. "People say that she's too cold and unfeeling. Maybe that will show her human side."