EXCLUSIVE: The Scooby twins have a maroon little brother! Five weeks into her campaign, Hillary Clinton has a THIRD van for Iowa swing (and at 95mph it's even faster than the others)

  • Democratic front-runner appeared in Mason City, Iowa and was driven around in Chrysler minivan
  • She is attempting to appear in touch with 'ordinary Americans' after flying First Class at the end of her previous New Hampshire swing
  • Appeared at the home of one of Iowa's first same-sex couples to marry but took no questions from reporters – again
  • Hit the road and flew through three sets of red lights and later zoomed up to 95 mph, even faster than the other Scooby vans 

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com In Mason City, Iowa

Published: 17:48 EST, 18 May 2015 | Updated: 23:33 EST, 18 May 2015

It's maroon, it's a Chrysler, and it looks completely ordinary.

Hillary Clinton's attempt to identify with ordinary Americans hasn't played well in the first five weeks of her presidential campaign, but she arrived in Mason City, Iowa on Monday in a vehicle that no one would mistake for a Clinton's carriage.

The maroon Chrysler minivan is a far cry from the twin armor-plated conversion vans, each affectionately known as 'Scooby', that Clinton's Secret Service detail drove cross-country to the Hawkeye State after she announced her White House run.

This time she showed up at the home of two wealthy supporters for a closed-door 'house party' in a rental with Iowa license plates and none of the finer appointments Scooby made available.

No big-screen LCD. No dark-tinted windows.But it still hit 95mph in a 65mph zone as her motorcade went through three red lights as the entourage left Mason City.

That's three miles per hour faster than her entourage was in April in New Hampshire, when it hit 92mph on Interstate 89. 

Onlookers outside the opulent home of Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, two Mason City residents who were among the first Iowan same-sex couples to be married when the practice became legal, gawked and waited for Scooby – but the black vehicle never came.

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Back to basics: No big-screen LCD. No dark-tinted windows. And no souped-up engine that can blitz through a New Hampshire rainstorm at 95 miles per hour - meet the Scooby Vans' little brother

Back to basics: No big-screen LCD. No dark-tinted windows. And no souped-up engine that can blitz through a New Hampshire rainstorm at 95 miles per hour - meet the Scooby Vans' little brother

What difference does it make: It's a bit smaller but like the original Scooby vans it sped through red lights above the speed limit - this time at 95mph, not 92mph

What difference does it make: It's a bit smaller but like the original Scooby vans it sped through red lights above the speed limit - this time at 95mph, not 92mph

Closely guarded: The new member of the Scooby van family comes with a Secret Service detail

Closely guarded: The new member of the Scooby van family comes with a Secret Service detail

Ordinary America: The Chrysler's travelling detail parked outside the large detached property where Hillary was making a stop in Mason City, Iowa today 

Ordinary America: The Chrysler's travelling detail parked outside the large detached property where Hillary was making a stop in Mason City, Iowa today 

Clinton's driver pulled in to Genth and Swenson's driveway and she emerged, trailed as always by chief of staff Huma Abedin.

Reporters and photographers were kept at least 50 yards away.

Clinton has earned a dodgy reputation for avoiding questions from the media, answering fewer in her campaign thus far than a contestant on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire.'

Monday brought more of the same. There was no opportunity to demand answers about Benghazi, her alleged ethical lapses while secretary of state, or the self-reported $25 million she and her husband earned in speaking fees during the last 16 months.

No wave. Not even a Reaganesque pretense at not being able to hear reporters at a distance.

Clinton went into the house, where a C-SPAN camera was set up to beam her speech to Americans but no tough questions awaited. 

Monday's event resembled her last round of Iowa functions: scripted, controlled, predictable. 

Don't ask: No reporters were able to ask questions during the engagement in Mason City at the home of Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, who were one of Iowa's first same-sex couples to marry

Don't ask: No reporters were able to ask questions during the engagement in Mason City at the home of Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, who were one of Iowa's first same-sex couples to marry

Having fun: Hillary Clinton laughs with local campaign organizer Sara Marino at her campaign stop at the home of Dean Genth and Gary Swenson

Having fun: Hillary Clinton laughs with local campaign organizer Sara Marino at her campaign stop at the home of Dean Genth and Gary Swenson

The only variation was the car and the geography. Mason City is a prairie away from Monticello and Norwalk, where she spoke in April, and even further from LeClaire where her first foray into Iowa presidential politics was a manicured, planned coffee with three millennials driven to a cafe by her political director.

She preached a message on Monday about small businesses and jobs but allowed no back-and-forth with media. By one estimate she has engaged with just 13 questions from the media since launching her campaign, and has not offered a full interview to anyone.

A lone pool reporter, the only one allowed in the room, relayed that about 60 people attended and were given 'cookies, grapes and bottles of water.'

'She took no questions from the media, which was ushered out of the room as soon as she finished speaking,' the pool report read. 'The candidate stuck around to mingle with the guests, who included a smattering of local politicians and other party activists.'

Genth and Swenson supported Barack Obama in 2008. Clinton tipped her hat to the president, thanking him for getting America out of the financial 'mess' it was in when he took over the White House from President George W. Bush.  

Then she seemed to low-ball expectations.

'Although we have begun to move forward again,' Clinton said, 'it is still hard to imagine how we are going to get to the point where people are not just getting by but getting ahead and staying ahead.'

She also renewed her embrace of Obama policies including free community college and the Affordable Care Act – which she hinted she might expand as president by going beyond the law's current age-26 cutoff for young people to remain attached to their parents' insurance policies. 

Usual transport: The original Scooby van, one of a pair, seen during the last Iowa trip. In New Hampshire they were clocked at 92mph

Usual transport: The original Scooby van, one of a pair, seen during the last Iowa trip. In New Hampshire they were clocked at 92mph

'A lot of young people are not making the income needed yet to be able to afford their own health care. We have to look out to see what we can do to help them,' she said.

Hillary made a separate fiscal sidestep to the left by criticizing the landmark 'Citizens United' Supreme Court decision, which cleared the way for wealthy Americans to use their gargantuan bankrolls as a form of political speech.

'I think the Supreme Court made a grave error with Citizens United,' she said.

'I will do everything I can to appoint Supreme Court justices who protect the right to vote and do not protect the right of billionaires to buy elections.'

Clinton herself is among the wealthiest mainstream presidential aspirants in American history. She is expected to raise more than $2.5 billion for her campaign and loosely affiliated super PACs of the kind that 'Citizens United' made prosper.

She will appear next in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Tuesday, at a more public event that will admit a small coterie of reporters. 

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