COLUMBIA, S.C. — With an aggressive pitch at black voters, Senator Clinton is relying on her experience as first lady to counter the upstart popularity of Senator Obama, telling an energetic crowd here that she was the candidate best suited to “break the barriers” in the 2008 election.

Mrs. Clinton, making her first presidential campaign appearance in this key Southern primary state, spoke to more than 2,000 people at a rally in a gymnasium at the historically black Allen University. She did not mention the Illinois senator by name, but she sought to forge a clear distinction between her bid to become the nation’s first woman president and his campaign to be its first black commander in chief.

“I believe this presidential election is about breaking barriers. This is the campaign, and I am the candidate with the experience to break the barriers,” she said before being drowned out by applause from an audience that included many African-American women.

Mrs. Clinton signaled an increasing eagerness to use her eight years in the White House as a substantive qualification for her bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. Like she has done in New Hampshire, the senator drew heavily — and successfully — on the nostalgia many Democrats have for her husband’s administration. Her first glancing reference to President Clinton’s two terms in office elicited a roar from the crowd. She also was not shy in implying Mr. Clinton’s presidency was a team effort. “I’m very proud of what we accomplished,” she said, “but we always have a long way to go. The work is never done.”

Later, responding to an audience member who asked what experience she would bring to a wartime presidency, she listed her time as first lady ahead of her six years in the Senate, where she has served on the Armed Services Committee. She said she “had a front row seat on history” when her husband was president. “I learned both what works and what doesn’t work,” she said, without specifying what did not work during the Clinton administration.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama have battled fiercely in recent days to gain traction in South Carolina, the state where another Democratic candidate, John Edwards, was born and which was one of two primaries he won in 2004 when he lost the Democratic nomination to Senator Kerry. Several audience members spoke glowingly of all three candidates, and more than a few suggested that a Clinton-Obama team would be their ideal ticket in 2008.

Mrs. Clinton’s emphasis on her experience appeared to resonate with several potential voters, including some who saw Mr. Obama speak here on Friday. “I think what’s making the difference is the experience factor,” a retired state employee, Clyde Hill, 70, said. “I would hate to have to choose,” he said, although he added that Mr. Obama was on a bit of “a honeymoon.”

The two senators each have announced endorsements of key black leaders in the state around their visits, and Mrs. Clinton was introduced yesterday by a state senator, Darrell Jackson, who sparked a controversy when he threw his support behind her last week but did not initially disclose that his backing had also won a $10,000 consulting contract from Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. Mr. Jackson and another state senator in attendance yesterday, Robert Ford, chose Mrs. Clinton over Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards, whom they supported in 2004. Mr. Ford last week suggested that Mr. Obama would bring down the entire Democratic ticket if he were the nominee. Mrs. Clinton thanked them both but made no reference to the endorsement controversy.

The New York senator also yesterday showed little fear in wading into an issue that has long touched off nerves in the South, saying South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from its statehouse grounds. “I think about how many South Carolinians have served in our military and who are serving today under our flag and I believe that we should have one flag that we all pay honor to, as I know that most people in South Carolina do every single day,” she told the Associated Press.

Her visit to South Carolina came as a new WNBC/Marist College poll showed her with a wide lead over Mr. Obama nationally. Among 471 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 37% said they would vote for Mrs. Clinton, while 17% supported the Illinois senator.