Sometimes the obvious is the most difficult to see.

I came to that conclusion the day after President Bill Clinton visited the Knight Campus of CCRI.

This was a show staged by the masters of spin. I don’t say that with disrespect, but admiration. This is the heavy artillery. They have done it lots of times and while this was new for many at CCRI, not to mention many Rhode Islanders, there’s a formula for these events and they had it down pat. There was the giant flag with the spotlights trained on it and the stage with its podium and a stool positioned just far enough away so Gov. Gina Raimondo was an observer but not an intruder. Black curtains shrouded the hallway to the back of the flag. In front of the stage was the open floor space of the Great Hall, soon to be filled with an estimated 1,000 people who had waited outside the college for up to three hours to get in.

The lineup made for good news shots. There was a crowd. That’s what they wanted to show.

On the floor, pipe fences separated the masses from the news media. Camera crews had an elevated platform and there was a line of tables with chairs where reporters could bang out the news on their laptops. And there was a second camera platform strategically located behind an area with seats for important local officials. It offered a side view of the podium with “coincidentally” a giant Hillary sign as a backdrop.

I was impressed. The details had been thought out for the best camera angles showing Bill Clinton and his followers. Staging was just the half of it. There was the show. The script was well planned from opening songs sung by the college chorus and the singing of the national anthem to the warm-up speakers, from college president Meghan Hughes to Knight Campus student government president David Sears and then the governor, who introduced Bill.

What all three had to say had a familiar ring. For that matter, what Clinton said also picked up on the importance of the community college in the role of an educated workforce. But of course this was a rally for Hillary, and Sears and Raimondo didn’t forget that. Sears talked of his own ambition to run for public office and urged people to be politically involved. Sears was behind a mock election on campus last month that saw Bernie Sanders outshine all other candidates, Democrats and Republicans.

“I’m not going to say who won,” he said, emphasizing that the mock election sparked conversation.

“Your voice and your vote does count,” he said reminding people to cast their ballot in the presidential preference primary April 26.

Raimondo was unequivocal in her support for Hillary. “Hillary needs you,” she said. And then she got down to an issue affecting millennials, the cost of education and student loans. She touted CCRI and how tuition is a fraction of the cost of other institutions. She said Rhode Island has the fourth-highest level of student debt in the country and “that is unacceptable … we’ve got to get student debt out of your way … it’s all about good-paying jobs.”

Student debt is a hot button issue, especially when Bernie talks about free education. Clinton wasn’t going to let that pass either. He talked about Hillary’s plan to treat student loans like home mortgages, allowing the borrower to consolidate and refinance loans. In addition, the plan would limit payments to no more than 10 percent of after-tax income, he said.

“Everyone can move out of their parents’ home,” he said, bringing a laugh from the crowd.

It all fit so perfectly.

Clinton getting cheers and kudos on Bernie’s turf, in fact on a campus where the Vermont senator was far and above the winner in a mock election. Surely, Clinton’s stop was as much about giving the state Hillary team a boost going into the primary as it was to score points on Bernie’s playing field.

But as I started off saying, I didn’t realize the obvious until reflecting on Clinton’s visit.

I talked to three students waiting for the event to start. I asked if they planned to vote and would they vote for Hillary. All three were non-committal. I didn’t even get an answer to whether they would vote in the primary.

That was fine. That was their choice. On reflection, students were in the minority. They were in classes or rushing to get to jobs. They weren’t hanging around. That’s the norm at CCRI.

Could that be just what the Hillary campaign wanted?

Bill wouldn’t be stepping into a bees’ nest of student activists; he’d be in front of a friendly group, and the rest of us watching it on TV, YouTube, reading about it, and sharing on Facebook would never stop to think there was only a smattering of students among the 1,500.