BOULDER – Flanked by a power lineup of some of Colorado’s most influential Democrats, including former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and state House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, Hillary Clinton made her first official campaign stop in this college town on Tuesday since announcing her current run for the White House.

Speaking before a crowd of 1,000 supporters at the Boulder Theater, Clinton unleashed a familiar crescendo of economic policy proposals aimed at bolstering the middle-class, chief among them calling for equal compensation for men and women and debt-free college, as well as investments in early-childhood education.

But in Boulder, a place that has been facing issues of across-the-board affordability for years and that lacks much of the diversity Clinton preaches to, the Democratic frontrunner quickly turned toward striking populist notes guaranteed to resonate with her audience in the liberal stronghold: Combat climate change. Invest in renewable energy. Take on the gun lobby. Close tax loopholes for pharmaceutical companies. Address issues of mental health and substance abuse. Protect women’s and LGBT rights as well as voting rights.

The predominantly female audience at the first of the day’s two “grassroots organizing events” (Clinton later held a second event at Manual High School in Denver) soaked up most of the former first lady’s words. But there were doubters in the room, too.

“We have lost our way,” said one of the attendees after the event, who declined to give her name. Does she think the former secretary of state can correct the course? “It sounds hopeful,” the woman said, sounding only half-convinced, while her husband chimed in, “I am mostly terrified of the Republican opposition.”

Mark Hafen, a Boulder resident, admitted he came to the rally “not convinced” but said he walks away reassured by Clinton’s resolve. Spilling out of the downtown venue, the Hillary crowds were greeted by a handful of vocal Bernie Sanders supporters.

“Her position on gun control is admirable,” Hafen said, applauding Clinton’s determination on an issue she has used repeatedly over recent weeks to attack Sanders. A bystander, overhearing Hafen, turned around. “It’s the most important thing,” she said forcefully.

Before the late-morning rally, Clinton met with five family members whose loved ones had fallen victim to the Columbine, Aurora and Sandy Hook shootings. According to a campaign official, Clinton vowed to the families that, as president, she would push for gun control measures, such as comprehensive background checks.

In Boulder, several of Colorado’s leading Democratic voices joined their party’s frontrunner on stage.

Hullinghorst, the speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives and the first Democratic woman to hold the gavel, made the case for a first female president.

Polis, who represents Boulder in Congress, praised Clinton’s advocacy for LGBT rights and combatting climate change, two issues near and dear to his own heart.

And Udall, who lost his seat to Republican Cory Gardner last fall, pulled on the audience’s heartstrings when he introduced – and endorsed – Clinton.

Udall, who took pride in his one-of-us image, addressed one of the Clinton campaign’s chief concerns – the candidate’s alleged aloofness. “I want to talk about Hillary Clinton as a person,” he said. “She is real, she is strong and she has a wicked sense of humor.”

Clinton made several trips to Colorado last fall to try to help lift Udall over the finish line. Now out of office, he propped up his fellow former senator’s foreign policy record and backed her on the hot-button issue of national security.

“She knows you have got to be tough when it comes to the threats facing the world,” Udall said. “She was there when the decision was made to go after bin Laden. And she also knows that you have to be smart and that we deploy our military with the full backing of the American people and the Congress of the United States.”

Late in her speech, Clinton picked up the ball. She argued that the United States must “lead a coalition to take on ISIS in the air, on the ground and online,” but said she was against deploying American combat forces in either Iraq or Syria. Instead, she made the case to work with partners in the region to build up their respective forces.

“I want us always to remember what we are fighting for,” Clinton said. “We are fighting for human rights and dignity and freedom – and that means we also must be willing to continue to welcome refugees.”

Amid vivid concerns over recent terrorist attacks by ISIS across Europe and the Middle East, RNC spokeswoman Ali Pardo hauled out one of the GOP’s prime barbs against Udall last cycle to invoke concerns over Clinton’s ability to prevent similar attacks in the United States.

“Given that Hillary Clinton supports unilaterally closing Guantanamo and potentially bringing terrorists to Colorado, it makes sense that she is campaigning with former Senator Mark Udall, who famously said that ISIS ‘does not present an imminent threat,'” Pardo said in a statement emailed to reporters.

Despite recent concerns over Clinton’s closeness to Wall Street, as well as lingering questions about her handling of a private email server, there was no shortage of Boulderites who responded to the campaign’s invitation to meet the candidate at Tuesday’s event. In fact, so many people showed up that half an hour before the program a line of waiting supporters still wrapped three blocks around the building.

Clinton campaign spokesman Ian Sams said they had been “overwhelmed” with the response of “a couple thousand” RSVPs. Since the Boulder Theater maxes out at a capacity crowd of 1,000, many of those waiting faced the only option of listening to the program being broadcast on the street via speakers – something only a few of those left out actually did.

Stuck at the end of the line, Maureen Weston of Boulder and her friend Anne-Marie Tatum, a holiday visitor from Malibu and a native Australian – she said she became a U.S. citizen eight years ago so she could vote for Clinton in 2008 – were quietly fuming.

“If you have a confirmation telling you, ‘You’re in,’ you should get in,” Weston said. “We are Clinton supporters. But this gives us pause. It goes to her credibility issue. You have to be straight with your supporters.”

Sams said the campaign was trying its best to get everybody in but was bound by the building’s restrictions. “We had a very good RSVP rate, especially for a holiday week.”

On top of Tuesday’s two rallies, Clinton rounded out her trip to the battleground state with a pair of stops at high-dollar fundraisers at the homes of Celestial Seasonings founder Mo Siegel in Boulder and former U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in Denver.

– info@coloradostatesman.com