HILLSBOROUGH - Former President Bill Clinton worked to rally voter support in the upcoming presidential primary for his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, at campaign stops in Hillsborough and Elon today.

Appearing before a crowd of several hundred curious college students and longtime fans at Elon University in Alamance County this afternoon, Clinton said his wife would be best for college students.

To buttress that claim, he cited her work on student loan legislation and her quest to create thousands of new jobs by making America energy independent.

"She will give the young people in this audience their future back, and I hope you agree," Clinton said.

He also slammed the federal No Child Left Behind program and said his wife would best be able to end the war in Iraq and provide health care to returning troops.

He also had plenty of praise for the quaint Elon campus. "This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen," Clinton said to cheers.

There appeared to be more Sen. Barack Obama supporters than Hillary Clinton supporters in the crowd, with many wearing Obama buttons and T-shirts. Many students said they were bigger fans of Bill than Hillary.

But not all.

Leigh Sassone, 21, of New York, can't vote in May's primary. But he said he liked Hillary Clinton better after hearing about her energy plan from Bill.

Laura Matkins, 55, who recently lost her job, drove from Greensboro to hear the former president.

"I've always thought he was charismatic," she said. Matkins said she also supports Hillary Clinton for president.

"I personally think it's going to take a woman to get us out of this mess we're in," Matkins said.

At an earlier rally in Hillsborough, Bill Clinton emphasized the importance of North Carolina in deciding the next Democratic nominee. The state's presidential primary is May 6.

"This is the biggest state still to vote," he told a crowd of hundreds who gathered on a ball field in the Orange County seat. "Your voice will resound across America."

Clinton boasted of the win in Pennsylvania on Tuesday by Sen. Hillary Clinton. He said that Sen. Barack Obama outspent her 3-1 on television ads and yet she still carried the state by a 10-point margin. Obama, however, remains ahead in the delegate count.

Speaking in the home county of John and Elizabeth Edwards, Clinton noted that Mrs. Edwards has said she favored Hillary Clinton's health care plan over Obama's.

"She said Hillary's health care plan was better, and as you all know, she knows something about that issue," he said.

He also talked about his wife's proposals to reach energy independence and promote development of affordable hybrid cars.

"If our country can beat the world to the moon," he said, "we ought to be able to beat the world to clean coal and a car battery."

The crowd began chanting "We want Bill" long before he made his appearance. They waited through T-shirt giveaways and a raffle to meet the former president. He is making his fifth swing through the state today on behalf of his wife's campaign.

"It's a great opportunity to come here [and see] a former president who I have a lot of respect for," said Elisabeth Smith, 38, of Carrboro.

The crowd also included some Obama supporters, undecided voters and Republicans. But most were cheering for Hillary Clinton.

"I like her because you can knock her down, and she comes right back up," said 63-year-old Jo Ann Snead of Hillsborough.

"But 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."

Jackson said, "I think that people are intimidated by her because she's a woman."

"I can't stand Obama," Jackson added. "I think it's worse to be political and pretend like you're not political. You have to be political to get the things done that you need to get done."