Slideshow

1 of 2

Hillary Clinton campaigns at the McConnell Center in Dover, New Hampshire on January 7, 2008. The New Hampshire primary will be held January 8th. (UPI Photo/John Angelillo)

Clinton, the two-term U.S. senator from New York and former first lady, who was the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination before last week's Iowa caucuses, talked with ABC's Diane Sawyer. She largely avoided reporters during the run-up to Iowa.

Clinton explained her emotional response Monday at a New Hampshire coffee shop.

"I care about what is going on in people's lives. That's how I got involved in this kind of work," Clinton said. "That's what I think a president should be concerned about. And there's a lot of concern and worry and just people hoping and praying that their problems are gonna be solved."

Clinton said she realizes she's "charting new ground and has been trying to present an organized front.

"I'm also a person, to some people's surprise. And what gets me up in the morning is not the next speech I'm going to make, and not the interview I'm going to do, it's whether I'm going to be helping somebody and whether I'm going to solve a problem for somebody," she told ABC.