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This article originally appeared on Slate.

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- Hillary Clinton opened her remarks at the 37th annual Harkin Steak Fry by talking about the imminent arrival of her daughter's first child and her possible presidential campaign. It was hard to tell which was more pregnant.

Clinton didn't mention her candidacy directly, but in her first visit to the state since her third-place showing in the 2008 caucuses, she made a succession of coy references. "Of course there's that other thing," she said after talking about how she and her husband were consumed with the prospect of their first grandchild. "Well it is true, I am thinking about it, but for today that is not why I'm here. I'm here for the steak." There were a few other nods and winks and Clinton concluded by saying, "Let's not let another seven years go by."

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state, for the first time since she finished third there i...

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Clinton praised President Obama and rallied Democrats to turn out for the 2014 midterms during her first public event in Iowa since the 2008 pres...

The audience of 10,000 got the joke. As they filed out, I asked James Hanifen, a World War II veteran, if he thought, based on what he'd heard, that she was running for president. "It's obvious she is. I mean, unless you're really, really dumb."

The Clinton campaign has been conceived and everyone is just waiting around for the birth announcement. That makes it murky to assess the Clinton candidacy. You can hardly judge a couple's parenting skills before the baby arrives. Though that doesn't stop the criticisms. The conventional complaint among Democratic campaign veterans and strategists who are not in the Clinton camp is that she has not developed a message and a rationale for her candidacy. She's running on the fact that it's her turn. Inevitability is deadly for candidates.

That critique is wildly premature. Not only has the official campaign where she could articulate a vision not started, but even when it does, Clinton is a prohibitive front-runner of a kind we have not seen in this century, which means she has time to get her act together.

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Washington Hillary Rodham Clinton did not announce that shes running for president during her big Sunday appearance at the Harkin Steak Fry in Iowa. Nobody really expected she would, though reporters keep asking about her intention. Maybe they just hope shell forget herself and let something slip out if they keep up the badgering.

But Clinton talked like a candidate. And by that were not just referring to her coy Hello Iowa, Im baaaack! at the start of her speech to the crowd. Her address focused a lot on economic issues, specially pitched to try and appeal to middle class voters. It sounded like the first draft of a stump speech the kind of thing shell repeat over and over in the months to come, with some tailoring of the edges for her particular audience.

Her theme? Surprise, surprise, it appears to be economic problems as experienced by the middle class. (Didnt another presidential candidate named Clinton once have a sign on their war room wall, Its the economy, stupid?)

In this Clinton appears to be fulfilling the prediction made by conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, who earlier this month said she will campaign on nostalgia for the prosperous years when Bill Clinton ran the country.

Today, you know so well, American families are working harder than ever, but maintaining a middle-class life feels like pushing a boulder uphill every single day. That is not how its supposed to be in America, said Hillary Clinton at the Steak Fry podium, standing in front of a backdrop of a tractor and bales of hay.

Then she looped this idea back into the American Dream, saying that in the US in the past each generation has done a little better than the one before.

Thats who weve always been and that is what our country must be again. So thats what this election is really about, said the former secretary of State.

No, she wasnt referring to 2016 there. Dont get ahead of yourself. She was talking about the upcoming midterms, in which the razor-close Iowa Senate race between Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley and GOP nominee Jodi Ernst could determine control of the chamber.

Clintons words got a polite reception from the crowd. Her biggest applause lines were those which dealt with womens rights, according to CNNs Peter Hamby. Thats something of a change in her, not the audience. During her 2008 run, Clinton generally shied away from focusing on her gender and the history-making nature of her candidacy, writes Mr. Hamby.

It was hubby Bill who got the warmest reception, though. He spoke after her (protocol hes actually been president, remember) and as Politicos Maggie Haberman noted, the Bill Clinton Show was very much in town.

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