​"Strong moms" hit it big on the campaign trail

(CBS News) - In an election year that might bring us our first female president, moms seem to be taking center stage on the campaign trail.

Saturday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched her campaign on Roosevelt Island, drawing on her mother's resilience as a key theme in her speech.

Dorothy Howell Rodham, who died in 2011, was abandoned by her parents at a young age and became a housekeeper to support herself.

"My mother taught me that everybody needs a chance and a champion," Clinton told a crowd of thousands of supporters. "She knew what it was like not to have either one."

The former Secretary of State said her mother's fighting spirit sustained her throughout her career.

"I'd come home from a hard day at the Senate or the State Department, sit down with her at the small table in our breakfast nook, and just let everything pour out," she said.

"And she would remind me why we keep fighting, even when the odds are long and the opposition is fierce. I can still hear her saying: 'Life's not about what happens to you, it's about what you do with what happens to you - so get back out there.' "

Hillary Clinton is not the only 2016 hopeful making her mother a key campaign theme.

Gov. Chis Christie's mother, who passed away in 1994, has been a frequent topic in his campaign stump speeches, from Iowa to New Hampshire.

Last week in Franklin, N.H., John Dickerson asked Chris Christie about his relationship with his mother.

"I often will sit there and think about what would she think of what I did today? What would she tell me I should do tomorrow? What would she feel about what her son's doing?" Christie said.

"I feel her, and she's still an enormous influence in my life every day," he continued. "And I think that's what happens when you have a really strong mother."