CLEAR LAKE, Iowa — The verdict from the jam-packed auditorium was nearly unanimous: Hillary Clinton crushed her speech at Iowa’s now-famous Democratic Wing Ding Friday night, winning standing ovations from the very Iowans who turned against her the last time she ran for the White House.

Clinton, who suffered a crushing blow when she came third in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, attacked her speech with a vigor Iowans — and even skeptical liberals — said they’d never seen from her before. Speaking with a booming voice, she opened with a full-throated defense of President Barack Obama’s Iran deal, before offering a stark warning of her own to Tehran: “We will never let you acquire a nuclear weapon. Not just in the terms of this agreement. Never.”


She talked about helping college students drowning in their school debt, nodded to the “Black lives matter” movement, and blasted the right for their latest attempts to defund Planned Parenthood — all while taunting the GOP for their fixation on Benghazi and her email scandal.

“Republicans want to stack the deck even more for those at the top — you saw this in the Republican debate the other night,” she said, her voice building as the crowd cheered. “Seventeen candidates and not one of them said a single word about how to address the rising costs of college … about equal pay for woman. Or quality preschool for our kids … No solution to sky rocketing prescription drug costs. No commitment to end mass incarceration, or to say loudly and clearly: ‘Yes, Black lives matter!’”

The crowd went wild, and even some of her critics warmed to her.

“I saw her eight years ago a couple times, and she certainly has improved her fire,” said Ray Brost, of Clarksville, Iowa, who was wearing a Bernie Sanders sticker. When asked if Clinton won him over tonight from supporting the far-left Vermont senator, he hesitated. “Boy it’s a hard choice. We saw a lot of real talent tonight. Smart people.”

Still, it wasn’t all good news for the Democratic frontrunner: Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, the persistent darling of the left who’s still mustering huge crowds at his events, is also building momentum in the Hawkeye State, where liberals say they want a candidate who’ll confront Wall Street and corporate America.

On Friday evening, Clinton had to share the stage with Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee at the historic Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa — a concert venue decked out in pictures of Buddy Holly, who played his last concert here before his death.

Trying to win over a room full of politically savvy Iowan Democrats in the influential state known for its early voting, they touted their own priorities from the podium, while blasting Republicans as the party of the rich, not the middle class.

“We need an economy that works for the middle class and working families … and not just for the top 1 percent,” Sanders said to roaring applause.

For all the Sanders support, though, Clinton won the crowd with a mix of tough talk and unforced humor that scored laughs. She compared trickledown economics with wearing shoulder pads (“One of the worst ideas of the 1980s.”), and she cracked jokes about GOP allegations that she deleted her State Department emails in an attempt to hide something.

“You may have seen I recently launched a Snapchat account,” she said in a hushed voice, quieting the crowd intently. “I love it. Those messages disappear all by themselves …”

Iowans roared, later citing the pithy line as the best zinger of the evening.

But Sanders also revved up the crowd, getting supporters off their feet with his stick-it-to-the-man, anti-Corporate America mantra. He opened by booing what he called the “disastrous” Citizens United Supreme Court case that opened the door to unlimited corporate donations in politics.

“I was determined not to have a Super PAC,” he said, noting his reliance on small donations from everyday Americans. “I did not want money coming from millionaire and billionaires. I don’t support their agenda. I don’t want their money!”

He also railed on the rich and powerful, saying the nation right now is too focused on the top, and not middle class or working families.

“The power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of campaign donors is so great that no president alone can stand up to them — that is the truth,” he said. “And that is what this campaign is about: it is not just about electing Bernie Sanders for president, it is about creating a grassroots political movement in this country.”

Events like these are the bread and butter of Iowa, whose residents are used to meeting candidates up close and personal and will accept nothing less. Not a single seat was open in the expansive ballroom at the event that raises money to elect Democrats in 23 Iowa counties.

The venue that holds 1,800 was so flooded that people ate their dinner — chicken wings, pulled pork, potato salad and baked beans — cross-legged on the floor because there was nowhere to sit, with crowds overflowing into the lobby. During the speeches, attendees stood in the back — some on tiptoes to see over people’s heads.

Though the room was mostly Iowans, visitors from 19 states came to this small town of 7,000 people, known for its famous music hall that’s hosted rock bands, country stars — and, of course, politicians.

O’Malley supporters showed up more than seven hours before the candidates took the stage, hooting at cars that drove by and taping O’Malley signs on cars parked out front of the hall. Though a notable group of enthusiastic youngsters showed up to support him, including his own children, O’Malley is nowhere near Clinton nor Sanders in the polls here in Iowa. (A CNN poll Wednesday showed Clinton leading Sanders 50 to 31 percent and O’Malley with a mere 1 percent.). Indeed, many Iowans left during his speech, which followed the two Iowa frontrunners, Clinton and Sanders.

Before the event, college-age students proffering their support for Hillary and the former Maryland governor faced off in the street, campaign signs in hand, seeing who could shout the loudest for their candidates.

On another street corner, virtually unknown Democratic candidate Willie Wilson of Chicago stewed because he was not invited to speak. He even threatened to storm the stage in protest to make his voice heard, tipping off Wing Ding organizers and setting off a fire-storm of worry before the event as staff fretted openly about what Secret Service, there to protect Clinton, would do.

“We believe we should have equal opportunity to run — it shouldn’t just be about the wealthiest and well-known,” the Chicago businessman said in a brief interview, surrounded by O’Malley protesters. “We feel that we should be part of it. It’s not right.”

Inside, the room buzzed with energy, with attendees wearing Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley stickers — sometimes all three at once. About an even number told POLITICO they were for Clinton, Sanders or undecided altogether and ready to scope out their options at the Wing Ding.

“For Iowa caucus voters the chance to get inside the Surf Ballroom … and to get to see these four candidates up close and personal, it’s really exciting for our voters and our electorate here,” said Dean Genth, vice chairman of the Cerro Gordo County Democrats, who has been taken aback by how the small Iowa event has grown over the years to become a national political extravaganza. “The thing they love and respect … is the ability to sit down in smaller events and talk with them.”