HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — Former President Bill Clinton emphasized the importance of North Carolina in deciding the next Democratic nominee during a rally Wednesday in Hillsborough. "This is the biggest state still to vote," he told a crowd of hundreds who gathered on a ball field.

Clinton boasted of Hillary Clinton's win in Pennsylvania, noting that Barack Obama had outspent her 3-1 on television ads, yet she carried the state by a 10-point margin.

The crowd contained some Obama supporters and Republicans, but it was primarily pro-Clinton. "I like her because you can knock her down, and she comes right back up," said Jo Ann Snead, 63, of Hillsborough. "She comes up spitting, and [Obama] comes up smiling," said her friend, Rollin Russell, 71, also of Hillsborough.

Kate Jackson, a registered Republican, said she plans to vote for Clinton because she thinks the New York senator is best-prepared to fix problems in the economy and foreign policy. She said she appreciated comments by Mike Trujillo, Clinton's state field director, that "boys" in both parties have been telling Clinton to "sit down, shut up and be quiet."

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