It wasn’t the first time Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has visited Keene as a presidential hopeful.

But at Friday’s campaign rally at Alumni Field, she had a big-name guest tagging along who local residents just can’t get enough of: former President Bill Clinton.

The visit was a homecoming of sorts for the couple, who stopped in the area numerous times during Bill Clinton’s two victorious presidential campaigns in the 1990s.

It was the first time the Clintons have campaigned together in the Granite State since Hillary Clinton’s campaign began.

At Friday’s rally, where more than a thousand people turned out to see the pair, Bill Clinton said Keene was the place where he first thought he might win the 1992 race, thanks to the larger-than-expected turnout at a local campaign stop.

“I love this town,” he said.

And area residents were also feeling the love.

“Miss Bill? Vote Hill,” one button read, and more than a few women proclaimed how much they loved, and missed, the former president.

It seemed the infatuation for Bill Clinton hasn’t waned — but will his long-time support locally translate into votes for Hillary?

Many at the rally who supported Bill Clinton in past years said it wasn’t a guarantee, but said having the former president along for the ride could only help, not hurt, Hillary’s chances.

The crowd at the rally — part of Clinton’s “Ready for Change, Ready to Lead” tour that was scheduled to touch down in Nashua and Manchester later on Friday — was largely made up of Hillary supporters, and some undecided voters who said they were still choosing from among the Democratic candidates.

In her 20-minute speech, Hillary Clinton touched on the changes she would bring as president: quality, affordable health care, pre-school for every 4-year-old, and affordable higher education, and having a president “who will actually use the words ‘global warming,’” she said.

The event began with Sen. Molly M. Kelly, D-Keene, who recently endorsed Hillary Clinton, introducing the former President.

Bill Clinton, wearing a polo shirt and khakis, spoke for about 10 minutes to loud applause and cheers.

“I came here in ’92 because we needed to get this country back in the solutions business, and we did,” he said. Next year, “with an entirely different set of problems, we’ve got to get this country back into the solutions business.

“That’s why you should vote for (Hillary).”

He sat on the stage as Hillary Clinton, dressed in a pastel pantsuit, spoke.

Hillary Clinton said working families, small-business owners, soldiers, and others have felt “invisible” under the current administration, and pledged to change that.

“In the last 61/2 years, haven’t you felt sometimes that the president just doesn’t see you and the people you see?” she asked. “I want you to know that no American is invisible to me.

“When the presidency of the United States changes hands and I move back into the White House, America, I can guarantee you: you will be visible to a president who cares about you. ...”

And, she said, as soon as she was elected, she would make increasing American diplomacy a priority.

Hillary Clinton also addressed what many local voters said they considered one of the biggest issues for the country: the war in Iraq.

“If President Bush has not ended our involvement in Iraq by the time I do become president, I will,” she said. “I will do that as my highest priority.”

However, she acknowledged, withdrawing the troops is “dangerous” and said she would oversee the creation of a plan “to begin safely, carefully, responsibly withdrawing our troops and equipment within 60 days.”

Friday’s rally marked the first time that she spoke about her proposal to crack down on a tax loophole that allows some Wall Street investment managers to pay low tax rates on their income, according to a campaign press release.

Investment managers in certain partnerships can currently take large amounts of their compensation in the form of “carried interest,” which is taxed at the 15 percent capital gains rate, rather than at income tax rates as high as 35 percent, the release said.

“I don’t think it’s fair that someone making $50 million a year pays less as a percentage of his income than someone who works as a teacher or a nurse. ...” Hillary Clinton said in her speech. “We’re going to start imposing a fair rate of taxation on these private equity firms...

“When we start taxing this income, we’re going to use it to give more help to the middle class.”

Pat Strobel, 67, of Keene, who attended the rally with her husband and granddaughter, said she was already a Hillary Clinton supporter.

“I thought it was great,” she said after the event. “I’m definitely voting for (Hillary).

“I’ve always liked her. ...”

Strobel said Clinton looked “very comfortable” on stage and liked what Clinton said about turning around the negative view that many countries have of the United States.

She said she considered Hillary Clinton separately from the legacy of her husband, but “it doesn’t hurt having him” on the campaign trail.

In a telephone interview with The Sentinel on Thursday, Clinton spoke about having her husband campaign with her, saying she is “thrilled” to have him along.

“He brings a wealth of experience and expertise,” she said.

Hillary Clinton said coming back to the state was nostalgic.

But, “it’s also energizing,” she said, “because every election is about the future and I’m running on my own record and what I want to do to get our country to meet the challenges we face.”

After Hillary Clinton’s speech on Friday, Alison Cuomo-Nason, a nurse from North Swanzey who’s an undecided voter, said she thought the Clintons “were a dynamic duo” during their joint stop.

But, she said she didn’t hear everything she wanted to from Hillary Clinton.

Cuomo-Nason said she wanted Clinton to talk about creating universal health care, instead of referencing affordable health care, which Cuomo-Nason doesn’t think is achievable.

Undecided voter Sandy S. Bibace, 53, of Peterborough said Hillary Clinton seemed “very sincere” in the campaign stop, and no negatives about the candidate came to light.

She said she agreed with what Clinton said about some people being invisible to the current administration.

But Bibace still had her doubts: “I’m afraid that she’s not electable.”

Still, she said seeing the couple together will help Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“I really miss Bill,” Bibace said. “It felt good to see him.”

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