Here at San Diego State University there were lots and lots and lots of people to see Hillary Clinton. Before she came out the crowd amused itself by flying paper airplanes down to the stage, and cheerladers applauded the introductory remarks by shaking their pom-poms.

“This is unbelievable,” said Clinton looking at the thousands of students sitting in bleachers around her. “I am so excited to be here with all of you.”

With only a few days to go before voting in California and 21 other states on Feb. 5, Clinton maintained the amicable tone exhibited during last night’s debate, talking about policy distinctions and laying off any sharp attacks against Barack Obama. She peppered her speech with popular proposals for the collegiate audience such as cutting student loans, increasing financial aid and increasing scientific research. Clinton again argued that her health care plan was truly universal, while Obama’s was not, but spent less time excoriating Obama over it than she has in the past. Instead, she said she found the wonkier posturing exhilarating.

“How many of you watched that debate last night?” she said. “Wasn’t that exciting?!”

<p.From the point of view of the travelling press, which had heard some version of the same speech about 73,000 times, the most excitement came during a near fist-fight behind Clinton, as she spoke about improving the economy, when security guards tried to remove two students holding up a red sign that said “Nepotist Tyrant Hands Off Iran” in front of Clinton’s “Solutions for America” sign. Clinton, unaware of the hostilities behind her, seemed to think the applause that resulted when the security guards finally took down the sign was for her. Which maybe, in a way, it was.

Follow Jason Horowitz via RSS.