Polls show one Democratic rival gaining ground on her, but Hillary Clinton on Friday targeted Republican presidential candidates in a speech that shows her central focus remains the general election in the fall of 2016.

Headlining a fundraising reception for the Virginia Democratic Party, Mrs. Clinton said the Republican candidates are peddling stale policies that favor the wealthiest Americans. Though she will be forever linked to her husband Bill Clinton’s presidency in the 1990s, Mrs. Clinton said the Republican candidates are the ones whose policy ideas are a throwback to an earlier era.