ROCK SPRINGS - Some locals, including Gloria Fabian and daughter Stephanie McKenzie, came to support their favorite candidate, Hillary Clinton, rather than just see former President Bill Clinton give a campaign speech.

"We're huge, huge fans of Hillary's," Fabian said Thursday afternoon while waiting for Bill Clinton to arrive in Rock Springs. "She's a strong, brilliant woman … and it's going to take a woman to straighten up this country right now."

Others in the big crowd, including 24-year old Rock Springs resident Amanda Ortega, came for the sheer love of Bill.

"I came to see Bill, period … I've got this little love thing going for him," said Ortega, who brought along 3-year-old son Dayton to the rally. "I've had a crush on him since his second term in office."

Whether for Bill or for Hillary, more than 1,000 excited Democrats jammed the Sweetwater County Events Complex to hear the former president stump for his wife in advance of Saturday's Democratic caucuses in Wyoming.

The nation's focus has turned briefly to Wyoming this week, where 12 delegates are at stake Saturday in the next battleground state.

Not surprisingly, the crowd's turnout and enthusiasm Thursday was huge in largely blue-collar Sweetwater County, a traditional Democratic stronghold.

"I actually took a half-day off work to come see the ex-president," said trona miner Bruce Deichmueller of Green River.

A lifelong Democrat, Deichmueller said he hadn't made up his mind for either Clinton or rival Barack Obama. "I'm not sure about my views on either Hillary or Obama," he said.

Likewise for Green River's Dale Andrews, who took an "extended lunch" from his job as a technician specialist to attend, but hasn't made up his mind about whom to support.

"Put me down as a big Bill fan," he said. "I think his presidency speaks for itself."

School District 1 teacher Wendie West brought 19 sixth-grade students to the event.

"This is a chance of a lifetime for them," West said. "How many of them will ever (again) get to see an ex-president?"

Student Kate McKeever, 12, agreed it was a great opportunity. "I saw the mayor and governor once, but it's not the same," she said.

Many parents pulled their kids out of school for a bit of history. Hillary supporter Amber Hale sat with her 6-year-old son, first-grader Thad Hale, near the front stage holding a Hillary sign.

Thad said he was "excited" about seeing a president, but noted his favorite president was "still George Washington." Thad also wondered "why his wife isn't here."

Rock Springs native Mike Chadey said he decided to bring his 9-year-old son John to the event.

"I'm bringing my boy to see a little bit of history," Chadey said. "You just don't get to see a president all that often."

Clinton, for his part, didn't disappoint. He gave a rousing, largely positive speech extolling Hillary's candidacy and the reasons she deserved the nomination in the state that was first to give women the vote.

Saturday's caucuses are "your chance to have a say in the future of the country," he said.

"But don't be in a great big hurry here," he joked to the appreciative crowd. "We need to let democracy have its say."

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.