Letter from Arkansas: Loyalties change in state where it all began for Bill and Hillary

I’ve touched down for the homecoming of the First Lady of Arkansas. This is the state that propelled Hillary and Bill Clinton from young law professors to political power couple.

In the run-up to Super Tuesday, Hillary has decided to return. It feels like a calculated move, to remind people of Hillary the Person before she became Hillary the Politician. I’m here to see where it all began, in Fayetteville.

A short walk from the law school where she taught sits a neat, understated home, now the Clinton House museum. I’m greeted at the door by its director, Kate Johnson. She launches into a story about how Bill had surprised Hillary, buying her the house to persuade her to move here. In a cabinet is a replica of her wedding dress. Kate says it took three proposals before Hillary said yes and we’re standing in the room where they married in front of just 14 people.

But on campus, there’s a Bernie Sanders march afoot. I meet Joyce, a life-long Democrat nailing campaign banners to a tractor. She tells me, “It’s never been about Bernie. It’s about us. Bernie has opened a door. If we refuse to walk through that’s our problem.”

The march is enthusiastic but Bernie hasn’t visited the state, an admission he probably can’t win here. Mrs Clinton is holding a rally, but not in Little Rock, where she worked as a successful lawyer and Bill served as governor. Instead she’s come to Pine Bluff. As we drive into abandoned streets, a retro sign reads: “The rebirth of Pine Bluff Starts here.”

There’s little sign of any progress, only derelict buildings. But inside the rally, the mood is positive. Classie Green, an African American, says: “We were even for Hillary when President Obama was elected. We knew her, we knew Bill and we just had confidence in her.”

But this once deeply Democratic state is now firmly Republican, driven by economic and racial division. Even if Mrs Clinton wins the nomination, in a general election she may well lose in the place she called home for so long.

Cordelia Lynch is US Correspondent for Sky News