The Clintons are coming to Concord. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will return to New Hampshire on Sunday with her husband, former president Bill Clinton, by her side.

The visit - which will include a rally on the State House lawn - will be the couple's second joint trip to the state since Clinton announced her candidacy earlier this year. After stopping in Concord, the Clintons are scheduled to hold a rally in Portsmouth's Market Square.

Clinton's staff is billing the visit as the kickoff to her fall campaign, and the trip comes as summer vacations draw to a close and the New Hampshire primary nears. The Clintons plan to visit Iowa on Monday.

New Hampshire's State House has long been a backdrop popular with current and former presidents and presidential candidates. In 1985, then-President Ronald Reagan spoke on the State House steps, his back to the door, with a lawn-full of onlookers before him, said Secretary of State Bill Gardner.

Many presidents and candidates have ventured inside the building. When former president Gerald Ford spoke in Representatives Hall, Gardner recalled, the wind blew the Venetian blinds onto the crowd, creating a noise "like a machine gun" and sending Secret Service officers scrambling to guard Ford. Former president George H.W. Bush also spoke in the State House, Gardner said.

After former governor Hugh Gallen died, former president Jimmy Carter attended a State House event in his honor. But his early State House wanderings were scarcely noticed.

"Carter was in the State House all the time when he was campaigning," Gardner said. "I was walking in the cafeteria one day and two representatives were standing in the doorway, and Jimmy Carter was sitting all by himself at a table. One of them said to the other, 'Who's that guy over there?' And the other guy said, 'He's one of those candidates.' "

Other luminaries have also visited the State House.

After becoming president, Bill Clinton visited Concord. In early February 1996, as Clinton was campaigning for a second term, he stopped at Walker School and met high school students and parents at the Capitol Center for the Arts.

Hillary Clinton's upcoming visit - her 14th to New Hampshire since announcing her candidacy earlier this year - will be one of the largest in Concord thus far in this primary cycle. The event will be free and open to the public, although those who wish to attend should call campaign headquarters or visit Clinton's website (hillaryclinton.com/hq/newhampshire) to secure tickets. Gates will open at 12:45 p.m.

For more information, call Clinton's New Hampshire campaign at 782-4640.

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By SARAH LIEBOWITZ

Monitor staff