"He was two hours late, and the store was crammed with people," the Town Board member said as she filled prescriptions at her West King Street drug store Tuesday.

"They bought all the canned beverages we had," Lloyd recalled. "It was good for business, but I never could get out to see him.

"It was hot. I guess they all got thirsty."

Clinton is scheduled to speak today at 1:45 p.m. on the ball field behind the Whitted Building at the corner of North Hassell and West Queen streets.

But if Chapel Hill pollster Tom Jensen is correct, Clinton may be in for a cooler reception than he got in 1992, when he and vice presidential running mate Al Gore whistle-stopped into town.

Public Policy Polling has Barack Obama up 25 percentage points in North Carolina, the fifth week in a row the Illinois senator has led U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton by 18 points or better in the company's polls.

On Tuesday, the firm was even bucking most other polls and predicting a narrow Obama win in Pennsylvania.

Public Policy Polling interviewed more people and more black, younger and more likely to vote respondents than most other polls, said Jensen, communications director.

Still, Bill Clinton's visit could help his wife.

"I think it's not a coincidence he's coming to Hillsborough," Jensen said.

The Clinton presidential campaign has a lot to gain in the state's small towns and rural areas, where high turnout could bring out more Hillary supporters and a visit from the candidate's husband could win undecided voters, Jensen said.

"Bill's the best card she has to play," he said. "For the most part they're sending him to places where it's a big deal to have someone of that magnitude come to town."

By mid-day Tuesday, though, it was hard to find many people who knew the former president was coming.

Wesley Woods, owner of Dual Supply across from Lloyd's Pharmacy, said his customers weren't talking about it.

Town Commissioner Eric Hallman said he didn't know about it until he walked into Cup-A-Joe's.

Hallman said he'll try to reschedule his day so he can hear the former president. But he

doesn't think Bill Clinton's speech will change his mind.

"I certainly admire what he has done," he said. "But I'm an Obama supporter."

Ditto Mayor Tom Stevens, who said he had yet to get up with the Clinton campaign to find out if they wanted him there today.

"It seems to me if you have a visiting president, the mayor ought to be present, too," Stevens said.

But he acknowledged he wouldn't want people to mistake his appearance for an endorsement.

"That certainly is a concern," said Stevens. He's hosting an Obama fundraiser at the Big Barn on Thursday night with Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy and Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton."

One Hillsborough resident who is backing Hillary Clinton is the town's poet laureate -- though not necessarily for her policies.

Mike Troy said he's thrilled to have a woman and black man running but men have been in charge too long and ruined too many things.

"I support whom my wife tells me to support," Troy said. "My wife is going to vote for Hillary. I'm not going to cancel her vote, so I'm going to vote for the woman."

As for Lloyd -- the demographic the experts say is most likely to support Hillary Clinton -- she's on the fence.

"I have no real problem with her," Lloyd said. "I think Obama's OK, too."

"Before she was a candidate, she could be a little rough," Lloyd said. "But that's been said about me and developers, too. Sometimes you have to say what you have to say."