Here's the deal. Before I headed up, my editors and I discussed my plan for coverage. Obviously, I'd try to cover the rally itself, but it wouldn't be top priority. We knew that Associated Press would be there.

And I've been to my share of political rallies for both parties in the past. They can be fun to watch, but the chance of the candidate going off-script is pretty much slim to none, and slim just left town.

My assignment was to write more of a color piece describing the experiences of people from York County who showed up to see Clinton. It would have the added bonus of allowing me to make contacts among area Clinton supporters, which will likely be useful as the campaign heats up in the coming weeks.

On Monday, I checked in with Mike Johnson, chair of the local Democratic Party, Colleen Burkett, who's running the county Clinton campaign, and some other prominent local Democrats. They were all meeting up at the Harrisburg Hilton at 10 a.m. for a relatively small-group meeting with Clinton, then heading over to The Forum for the rally. They said if I met up with them, they could point out other local Democrats to me.

So one of our photographers, Paul Kuehnel, and I were at the Hilton at 10. A lot of the local people got to go into a room off the second-floor lobby to hear Clinton talk, and to meet one-on-one with her briefly afterward.

Governor Rendell was there. I also ran into state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, who is a Clinton supporter. He met her a little earlier, in a session for state lawmakers.

In the story I wrote about it, which ran in today's newspaper, I mentioned that York councilman Cameron Texter was there as well. This morning, he left a message on my phone to clarify something. While he did want to meet Clinton, he's actually a Barack Obama supporter. Although he said he didn't mention that in front of her, which was polite of him.

Paul was making a video, but I wanted to shoot my own, because you have to post a video on Youtube to embed it in a blog, and management here doesn't want the official York Daily Record videos on Youtube.

The meeting with Clinton was for VIPs, a designation that apparently didn't extend to Paul, myself or any other news people. At about 11:30, with half an hour to go until the rally, I started getting antsy. I approached the door of the meeting room saw and Hillary Clinton up near the front, with other the invitees lined up for their one-on-ones.

I wanted to poke my head in to get some footage of local people shaking hands with Clinton. But the approximately nine-foot-tall Secret Service guy at the door seemed to think that was a bad idea, and I wasn't inclined to argue.

Finally, at about 11:40, the York County Democrats left the Hilton and hustled over to The Forum. Paul and I stuck close to Mike Johnson, figuring he'd be the focal point for the local Dems.

We waited in line with him. Then some security guard came out and said The Forum was filled to capacity. They couldn't let any more people in, as per the instructions of the fire marshal. Johnson later found out that he could have made it in if he'd gone straight to the VIP entrance. But he wasn't disappointed, after his chance to meet Clinton personally. Besides, he's technically neutral in the Clinton/Obama primary race.

I wasn't disappointed either. Paul and I circulated among the scores of people waiting outside and found some more York County residents to interview.

It's funny. Hillary Clinton seems to inspire so much vitriol on the Internet. On Tuesday, however, you could tell that the people there weren't just expediently supporting the only Democratic candidate. That's already evident in Clinton's continuing primary fight against a very viable opponent. The people outside The Forum genuinely like her. Many cited her experience and intelligence.

Here are a few things I heard second-hand about what went on during the meetings with Clinton:

-- Both Eugene DePasquale and Colleen Burkett said the senator had fond memories of visiting York in 1992. Clinton appeared to be genuine, as she specifically mentioned the Yorktowne Hotel and the "charming" Central Market.

-- Clinton admired a rhinestone donkey pin worn by Ellen Johnson, Mike's wife. Specifically, the senator said "I like your bling."

-- Clinton told the crowd at the Hilton that when people say they don't like the 1990's, she asks them, and I'm probably paraphrasing here: What didn't you like, the peace or the surpluses?

For me personally, it was the Hootie and the Blowfish albums.