By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – A childhood friend of Hillary Clinton who is running as a Central Illinois delegate for the Democratic frontrunner said last night was a nailbiter.

Patsy Bowles of Bloomington was among the many who waited until early Tuesday morning to see Clinton declare victory over Bernie Sanders in the Iowa Democratic caucus.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Bowles on WJBC.

“When she walked in and gave her speech I just had tears in my eyes,” Bowles said. “It was such a fascinating experience to be standing there and witnessing history, at least in Iowa.”

Bowles spent the past two days in Iowa knocking on doors trying to muster support for Clinton ahead of her narrow win. Bowles told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin she offers a unique perspective of the presidential candidate.

“I am in kind of a unique position because I know her personally, and so I can talk a little bit about her and growing up with her and talking about what kind of person she is,” Bowles said.

Meanwhile, a Bloomington native attended a Republican caucus outside Des Moines. Rod Backsmeier, who moved to Clive just outside Des Moines three years ago, told WJBC he had to wait a half-hour just to get inside to caucus and said it took about 2.5 hours for all votes to be cast.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Backsmeier on WJBC.

“It was packed,” Backsmeier said.

He added each candidate could have a representative speak on their behalf for two minutes, but most caucus-goers seem to have already made up their mined.

“I would be surprised if any of the speeches changed their votes,” Backsmeier adding Marco Rubio as a possible exception, though he did not say which candidate received his vote.

Backsmeier said most who attended the caucuses seemed to already have their mind made up before the politicking began, though he says there’s a lot less of that in the Republican caucuses.
He said it was worth it to take part in the electoral process.

“If you don’t vote, you can’t really complain because you didn’t take part in the process,” Backsmeier said.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].