Candidates are battling for the Democratic nomination, and UNM was part of the battleground Thursday.
Former President Bill Clinton spoke to about 500 people at Johnson Gym to campaign for his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
But he wasn't there just because they've been married for 32 years, he said.
"Knowing what I know about the demands of the presidency and the conditions of the modern world, I would be here for her if she and I had never been married," he said. "She has the right vision in how we can grow and go forward together."
Clinton said the U.S. is struggling from the blunders of the Bush administration and needs strong leadership to recover.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"The bad news is our politics and our economics are lagging behind where your head is, your consciousness, your hopes and your dreams for the future are," he said.
When Clinton raised the issue of college tuition, he received a warm applause from the student audience.
"She has a plan to make a college education available to everyone," he said.
Clinton said Hillary would make it easier for high school seniors to attend college by raising tax credit and making student loans more accessible.
"When this was done in the 1990s, we increased the amount of people going to college by 13 million," he said.
Hillary would create jobs for Americans out of legislation to protect the environment, Clinton said.
"Everyone can find something to do," he said. "The jobs that will be created will be for college graduates . and high school dropouts and everyone in between."
Clinton said his wife has always worked to create positive change.
As a law student, Hillary stayed an extra year working to create law reform on child abuse, he said.
Clinton said that when he was governor of Arkansas, Hillary worked to improve the state's schools.
"Hillary believes that we are one country," he said. "You want a president that won't forget that."
Student Oakley Meredeth said Clinton was a strong speaker, but he was vague on the issues.
"I thought Bill had good things to say," he said. "But when it came to actual policies, it was a little ambiguous. He's no Barack."
But Vivian Skadron disagreed.
She attended the event to see if Clinton would live up to the reputation that has been created for him by the media, she said.
"He made the issues very clear and showed that (Hillary) had the experience to be on the Democratic ticket," she said.
