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Indianola, Iowa Hillary Rodham Clinton's third-place finish in the 2008 Iowa caucuses seemed but a fading memory when the former secretary of state took the stage in front of roughly 10,000 loyal Democrats at outgoing Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin's annual fall fundraiser south of Des Moines.

Though Clinton is the favorite for the 2016 Democratic nomination should she run, she advised the audience and the media on Sunday that her focus was on the November midterm elections. Still, she left just enough hints that a second bid for president could come, and that it might begin in Iowa.

1. IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK IN IOWA.

After posing for photographs turning a grill full of red meat at Harkin's farewell "steak fry," Clinton stopped to say hello to the remaining reporters, after many had left.

Asked whether she was glad to be back in Iowa, where her 2008 campaign hit a costly bump, she said: "It's great, it's fabulous to be back. I love Iowa."

And then she launched into an anecdote she often told in Iowa at the outset of her 2008 campaign. "I first came to Iowa when I was about, I can't remember, I was either 9 or 10," she said. "And we were with my dad, and we went to Des Moines and we stayed at the Tall Corn Motel. I've had a great impression ever since."

2. SOME VOTERS ARE READY.

Clinton insisted the point of speaking at Harkin's event was to boost 2014 candidates. But she dropped hints of a potential 2016 candidacy into her speech to an audience packed with people wearing "Ready" stickers, symbols of the Ready for Hillary political action committee that is laying the groundwork for a potential campaign.

Clinton described her personal concerns first as an expectant grandmother. "And then of course, there's that other thing," she said, fueling a slow but steady rise in cheers from the crowd. "Well, it is true, I am thinking about it, but for today that is not why I'm here." The caveat prompted a corresponding moan of disappointment.

"Too many people only get excited about presidential campaigns," she said later. "Look, I get excited about presidential campaigns too." she said. Again, cheers erupted.

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Hillary Clinton in Iowa: 5 takeaways from her visit