Hillary's Ladies Of Leisure World

Working Overtime for Clinton At the Retirement Community

Barack Obama may have the youth, but Hillary Clinton has the good people of Leisure World, and by God, they vote.

"I'd trade my scarf for a Hillary button," says Lillian Wolf, 74, a Clinton fan, sitting in the lobby of a clubhouse after casting her vote in the next room. It's a Redskins scarf. "I mean, that's true love," Wolf says.

Leisure World of Maryland, the senior living community, is filled with love for Hillary. Hillary, Hillary, Hillary. Strangely, there are hardly any signs for her outside the polling station at Clubhouse One, but then again, says a tiny lady with fiery red hair, "Don't hafta be. Everybody knows."

They're lined up even before the polls open at 7, voters stretching down the hall and all the way back to the potted plants in the lobby. So prompt! ("We wanted a parking space," one of them says.) Mostly women. Mostly retired. Hillary, Hillary, Hillary. One of them says her friend here met Bill on Sunday, when he came to Leisure World to campaign for Hillary, and Bill touched the campaign button the friend had on, and now she won't wear it anymore because his fingerprint is on it.

And now they both stand in line to vote for Hillary.

Who says that ol' Clinton magic is gone?

This place is ground zero for Hillary love. It was here, in 1992, that the Hillary Rodham Clinton Support Network was formed -- to protect and defend "poor Hillary" when everyone was "bashing" her, says Lil Caulton, a charter member of the fan club.

Caulton, 80, is a Democratic precinct chairman, and while she doesn't officially endorse Clinton in that role, she will tell you if you ask: She loves her. Early this morning, she sets up a table outside the polling station with all sorts of party literature, which she refers to, lovingly, as her "junk." It is bitterly cold and still dark. She has forgotten gloves and a hat, but she has somehow remembered her program from the 1993 presidential inauguration and an autographed copy of Hillary Clinton's autobiography ("To Lil with thanks").

"That and the lottery is gonna make me rich," Caulton says dryly.

A man comes over, gives Caulton a hug.

"How the hell are you?" he says.

"Did you vote?" Caulton asks.