Smithfield — A crowd of hundreds gathered Monday afternoon on Hancock Street to listen as former President Bill Clinton touted his wife's education, military and economic policies.

Clinton's visit was part of a daylong tour of North Carolina leading up to Tuesday's primary vote. His stop in Smithfield took him to the home of Chap and Ann Ragland. Chap Ragland spoke briefly before Clinton's arrival. He said it was a huge honor to host a former president.

"I think this is probably one of the neatest opportunities I've had in my lifetime, and I've been around a day or two," he said with a laugh. "When Allen Wellons called me and asked if I would mind if Bill Clinton spoke on my front porch, I said, 'Well, no.'"

Minutes later, Gov. Mike Easley and his son, along with the governors of two other states, introduced Clinton. They stood by his side as the former president outlined Hillary Clinton's desire to eliminate the No Child Left Behind program, pull troops out of Iraq, suspend the federal gas tax and invest in alternative energy sources.

The latter of those issues caught the attention of Barbara Batten of Kenly. Batten said she supported Hillary Clinton's desires to invest in short- and long-term fixes to the energy crisis and keep jobs in the United States instead of outsourcing work to other nations.

"I'm a widow," Batten said. "I support Hillary because my Social Security benefits never go up and my retirement benefits don't go up, but the cost of everything I need to buy keeps getting higher. Gas prices keep going up, and food keeps getting more expensive. Something's got to give."

Meanwhile, education and healthcare were on the minds of Michelle Picarella of Smithfield and her mother, Carol Anderson. Picarella and Anderson, both teachers, said they were thrilled by Clinton's pledge to eliminate No Child Left Behind.

"No Child Left Behind is a fake dream," Anderson said of the policy. "Every child just can't be on grade level in their studies when there's no discipline in school. It's just not realistic."

Anderson said she was concerned also about her family's lack of medical insurance. Anderson said she had been hospitalized twice in the months since she lost her job at Neuse Charter School in Selma. A cancer survivor, Anderson is also supposed to be using an oxygen tank.

"But I can't afford it," she said. "Now that I don't have insurance, I can't go to the doctor for checkups."

"I'm worried for myself, for my mother and for the rest of my family that we won't have anywhere to turn if a catastrophe strikes," Picarella added.

John Visser of Smithfield also worried about healthcare and the cost of living. But Visser said his primary reason for supporting Clinton was her support of the gay and lesbian community. "As a gay man myself, I'm a diehard Democrat, largely because of what Bill [Clinton] did for us during his terms in office," Visser said. "I think Hillary would fight for us to have equality."