SOUTH BEND — As Indiana’s May 6 presidential primary election looms, the late Robert F. Kennedy’s first-born child made her second visit to South Bend in the past month Sunday to stump for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend addressed a small group of St. Mary’s College students in the lounge of the college’s Student Center.

Townsend avoided saying anything negative about Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Instead, she focused on her admiration for Clinton and her disdain for how Republicans over the past eight years have handled health care, the war in Iraq, education and immigration.

Townsend, who was lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995-2003, also praised Clinton’s 1995 book, “It Takes a Village,” the best-seller that also became a rallying cry for social conservatives opposed to her feminist ideals.

“When she wrote that book there were a lot of people criticizing her: ‘It takes a family to raise a child,” Townsend said. “Well of course we need families, but we all understand ... we all have to work for the common good. We’re not all by ourselves. We are connected to each other. Your welfare is connected to my welfare. If you’re happy, I’m happy. If you’re in good shape, you’ve got good health care benefits for your children, a good education, I’m going to be better off.”

Townsend said she and her husband, college professor David Townsend, first met Bill and Hillary Clinton over a 5-hour dinner in 1980.

“Obviously Bill Clinton was impressive as the governor of Arkansas, but what I was really blown away by was Hillary,” Townsend recalled. “She was this first lady, she had gone to Wellesley College and was valedictorian. She had gone on to Yale Law School. She made a choice. What was she going to do with her life? What she did is she followed her love to Arkansas and when she got there she really made an effort to improve the lives of people in Arkansas.

“She wanted to focus on education and health care, and she went around to every small community. She talked to the educators, she talked to the business people, talked to the community. She said, ‘What can we do to raise educational standards for people in Arkansas? She became, nationwide, known for her efforts at that time, and that showed you an enormous woman of passion, and commitment and devotion. She could have done anything else, and here she was really making a difference in people’s lives.

“I think that’s what I’ve loved about her for the last 28 years. Every time I’ve seen her, read about her, heard from her, she’s really trying to make a difference.”

After speaking for 12 minutes, Townsend opened the floor to questions from the students. They asked about education, Iraq, universal health care, equal pay for men and women, immigration, federal response to Hurricane Katrina, free trade and gays in the military.

Townsend gave articulate answers, but at times it was difficult to discern whether she was sharing her own views or actual policy positions that the Clinton campaign has adopted.

Social work senior Adrianna Lopez, who said she was born in Chicago but her family immigrated from Mexico, asked whether Clinton recognizes that free trade issues are directly tied to immigration problems. Lopez said the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Bill Clinton pushed but Hillary Clinton has recently claimed she opposed, drove thousands of many small Mexican farmers into bankruptcy — and to U.S. cities in search of jobs.

Afterward, Lopez said she remained divided between Clinton and Obama, and noted she also is concerned about other issues, such as health care.

“I’m happy they are thinking about those issues,” Lopez said, “because our middle class is going to be affected later on and if that happens, it might be too late for them.”