Clinton gets warm, not wild, California welcome

SAN DIEGO: California Democrats gave Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton a warm if not overly effusive welcome on Saturday at their annual convention, with a few shouting out for an immediate end to the Iraq war.    

"The first thing I will do upon taking office is to end the war in Iraq," Clinton told more than 2,000 party activists meeting in San Diego this weekend.   

A small minority at the convention held signs or called out for the US Congress to cut off funding for the war, a move that could undercut President George W. Bush's plans to continue military involvement there.   

"She is pro-war," said Patrick Tate, 59, who loudly booed the New York senator as she entered the San Diego convention center. Clinton has refused to apologise for her 2002 vote authorizing the war or call it a mistake.   

Clinton got cheers and applause at the convention with calls for universal health insurance and support for what she termed the invisible people of society. "You will not be invisible to the next president of the United States of America," she said.   

Considered a front-runner in the primary contest, Clinton is among a series of Democratic presidential candidates in San Diego hoping to impress party loyalists. Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut were among those scheduled to speak in the afternoon.    

Last month, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law moving up California's presidential primary to February 2008 from June to give the state a greater role in the presidential selection.   

In recent years, California has served as a vital source of fund-raising, but the national contest was already decided by the time the state held its primary. New York has also moved up it primary to the same day in February 2008.   

"It's added to the mix in an extraordinary way. You know, we've never had a primary process like this," Clinton, wife of former US President Bill Clinton, told a news conference.

"We're all trying to figure out how to manage the resources, the time, the organization challenges."   

"It puts an enormous burden on me and my campaign. Obviously, you know we have to cover a lot more ground and raise a lot more money to be able to compete in all these states," she said.   

The burden could be heard in her hoarse voice after flying from South Carolina where she appeared on Friday. She has traveled many times to California in recent months, typically to appear at fund-raisers rather than to give public speeches.   

Caitlin Harvey, 20, a university student, said other candidates were stirring more passions than Clinton, adding she preferred Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

"Obama, he's new and fresh, he makes people excited about politics again," she said. "Hillary, she doesn't excite people as much."