During a brief stop at the Atwood Grill, in Johnston, after the RIC rally, Hillary Rodham Clinton poses for a photo with Chris Duluk, 18, a University of Rhode Island student from Smithfield.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE — Surrounded by a cheering swarm of supporters, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton mocked her primary opponent’s calls for consensus building, and asked Rhode Islanders yesterday to consider her experience when hiring a candidate “for the hardest job in the world.”

The New York senator is counting on Rhode Island to help break a string of 11 consecutive defeats in primaries and caucuses to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who leads in delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Rhode Island’s presidential primary is March 4. Texas, Ohio, and Vermont also vote that day.

“This little state has a big voice on March 4 to help choose the next president,” shouted Clinton, sounding a little hoarse during a stump speech before enthusiastic fans in a field house at Rhode Island College.

Obama has erased Clinton’s once wide lead in national polls; he is raising more money than she is, and is outspending her on TV advertising. Former President Bill Clinton has said his wife must prevail in Texas and Ohio if she hopes to win the nomination.

In an interview with The Journal yesterday, Hillary Clinton would not agree that Texas and Ohio are do-or-die contests for her, but she acknowledged that “we have to do very well.” She said her campaign had “about nine days left to get some wins on the scoreboard, and these are the next states up.”

Facing high stakes, Clinton yesterday stuck to her message that she is the most qualified Democrat for the job, and insisted there is no conflict “between change and experience.” As she has throughout the campaign, the former first lady argued the case that she would be ready for the job on “day one.”

The presidency will require an experienced hand in 2009 to address “a war to end in Iraq and a war to win in Afghanistan,” she said. And the next president must rewrite the country’s energy policy, provide medical coverage to 47 million uninsured, reverse the housing foreclosure crisis that is damaging whole neighborhoods, restore America’s relationships around the world, and be prepared for surprises.

“Think about what happens in that [oval] office,” said Clinton. “Think about the phone calls that come at 3 o’clock in the morning.”

She mocked Obama’s call for unity:

“I could stand here and say, let’s just get everybody together, let’s get unified — the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect,” she said, to laughs. “Maybe I’ve just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this will be. You are not going to be able to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear.”

Clinton pledged that on “day one,” she would direct military advisers to develop a plan to withdraw American troops from Iraq, allowing one or two brigades to come home per month; and she would ask the Congress to send her bills that President Bush has vetoed, including an expansion in child health-care programs and federal funds for stem-cell research.

She mentioned Obama by name only in criticizing her rival’s health-care plan. Obama’s plan would require children to be insured, but would not penalize adults who fail to buy coverage for themselves; Clinton’s plan would be mandatory. The two campaigns have attacked each other on these points for months.

“Of all our differences, the one that’s inexplicable is his refusal to put forth a plan for universal health care,” Clinton said. She drew a comparison to Medicare and Social Security, saying neither would work if voluntary. “I am one hundred-percent committed to making sure we have affordable health care,” she declared. “No exceptions. No excuses.”

The senator interrupted herself once during her speech to point out a spectator who apparently fainted in the warm field house. “I’m sure it was my heated rhetoric,” she said. The senator recommended a route to evacuate the ill person through the crowd.

Clinton was introduced at the rally by Rep. James R. Langevin, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. The first-term senator said Rhode Islanders “know,” “trust” and “love” Hillary Clinton.

After her stump speech, Clinton sat for several media interviews, and then made a brief stop at the Atwood Grill, in Johnston.

Her last scheduled stop in Rhode Island was at El Paisa, a Colombian restaurant in Central Falls. The candidate listened as a handful of Rhode Islanders shared personal struggles with the health-care system before a small audience of invited guests.

“Without RIte Care my son would not be alive,” said Nadine Bonanca, a Tiverton resident whose son was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 2.

Clinton criticized Governor Carcieri’s proposal to cut RIte Care eligibility. “We have to do everything we can, Nadine, to help you take care of your son,” Clinton said from across the table, with the restaurant’s wait staff and cooks looking on. “I think people forget, or maybe they never knew, that we have so many people in Rhode Island and across America who work full-time and bring home so little … This RIte care program is essential to provide a safety net.”

The discussion lasted about 40 minutes.

State Rep. Grace Diaz, D-Providence, a newly appointed super delegate, joined state Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, at the event, along with former Progreso Latino leader Patricia Martinez, now the director of the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

“The Hispanic community right now is divided in Rhode Island,” said James A. Salazar, publisher of the Hispanic newspaper Nuevos Horizontes. But he said the growing demographic was enjoying being courted by national candidates. “Politicians look for the votes. They’re starting to pay attention to Latinos.”

The deep reservoir of support Clinton enjoys among the local Democratic Party’s state hierarchy was on display at a $1,000-per-person fundraiser early yesterday at Senator Whitehouse’s Providence home, on the East Side. More than 200 attended. Clinton arrived to cheers shortly after noon.

Among those in attendance: former Providence Mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr.; Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts; former Sen. Claiborne Pell; General Treasurer Frank Caprio; Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis; Langevin; Gerry Harrington, a lobbyist who works in Washington and Rhode Island; lobbyist Rick McAullife; Michael McMahon, former director of the state Economic Development Corporation; business leader Ernie Baptista; party financial maven Mark Weiner, of East Greenwich; William Lynch, the state Democratic Party chairman; Vincent Igliozzi, a longtime political power in the city’s Silver Lake neighborhood; state Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence; state Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence; and former state senator and three-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee Myrth York.

Former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, remembered by Rhode Islanders of a certain age as a Providence College basketball star and the MVP of the 1963 National Invitational Tournament, was there.

Former state Sen. Gloria Kennedy Fleck, of Warwick, noted the fundraiser’s early hour — guests were told to arrive by 11 a.m.

“This Sunday we are worshipping at the church of Hillary,” said Fleck.

Rhode Island is more than political constituency for Clinton and her husband. She has close friends here, such as Weiner, Suzanne Magaziner, of Bristol — whose husband, Ira, worked with Hillary Clinton on health care proposals during Bill Clinton’s first term — and Paolino, who hosted Bill Clinton’s first major fundraiser in the state in December 1991, when the then-Arkansas governor was readying his first run for the presidency.

There were some conspicuous no-shows, such as Providence Mayor David Cicilline, who endorsed Clinton but then became upset with her when the Clinton campaign told him not to come to the event due to his long-standing labor dispute with the Providence firefighters union. And Providence lawyer Jack McConnell, one of the Democratic Party’s leading fundraisers and a longtime Clinton supporter, who decided against going after Cicilline was disinvited.

Reporters were not allowed inside the fundraiser. The Clinton campaign said it raised $100,000 at the event.

With reports from Steve Peoples.

marsenau@projo.com