Hillary Clinton applauds historic female-dominated debate, shrugs off Madeleine Albright's comments

When asked about Madeleine Albright suggesting over the weekend that women are obligated to support Hillary Clinton — saying "there's a special place in hell for women who don't help women" — Clinton told the audience at the Democratic debate Thursday night that it was a quote Albright has long been fond of using.

"She's been saying that for as long as I've known her, about 25 years," Clinton said of her husband's former secretary of state. Clinton added that she has always found it important to "unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society," and said she has "no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope by the end of this campaign a lot more are supporting me." Clinton made it clear she is "not asking people to support me because I'm a woman," but to back her "because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and commander-in-chief."

Clinton also said that she was told out of about 200 presidential primary debates, this debate — with Clinton onstage and moderators Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill asking the questions — was the first time a majority of participants were women. Indeed, of the four people on stage, Bernie Sanders was the only man.

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"We'll take our progress wherever we can find it," Clinton said.