Inside the arena at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in southern Oregon, a not exactly full house one hour before Hillary Clinton is scheduled to arrive…

…while outside the light fades on a warm day here in this overwhelmingly white (as in 93 percent white) corner of the state.

Earlier I spent some time talking to Hillary supporters as they arrived, waited in line, and headed inside the arena. Here’s Philip Frisby, 84, a retired cement delivery person from Grants Pass, Oregon.

“I think it’s just great that she’s staying in,” Frisby told me. He isn’t a big fan of Obama. He’s heard Obama won’t sing the national anthem, that he considers it a war song. “How good an American could he be if that’s his way of thinking?” Frisby asked. “His patriotism goes one way—that’s his way.”

How did Frisby hear about Obama’s dislike of the national anthem? You guess it: By email.

Now meet Margaret Roper, 74, a homemaker from Grants Pass.

“I don’t think she should drop out,” Roper told me. “I think she should stay in until the last.”

She’s also not a big Obama fan. “I don’t think he’s got the qualifications she does,” Roper said. “I think she’s a better person.”

One reason: “I think you should be proud to be an American. I think he should defend our country in every way, shape, and form, and I would not have listened to the things his preacher said.”

Can Hillary even win the nomination at this point?

“It’s possible,” Roper said. “She’s a fighter.”

Deanna Rogers, 43, arrived with McKyla Crowder, 14. Rogers could not explain how Hillary Clinton still has a viable path to the nomination. “She can give it a try,” said Rogers, who works as a real estate agent in Medford. “She can’t give up now. It’s not over until it’s over.”

“I hope she will win,” said Balaman Poorkhomani, 52, of Ashland. “Because I like her husband. We had a great country when he was president.”

And if she doesn’t win? Is the country ready to vote for a black man for president?

“Of course.”

Roger Caldwell has been to 11 states on the proceeds of his button and t-shirt sales, and he’s made a study of Hillary Clinton and her devoted followers, who he calls “Hillarians.”

He thinks Clinton is staying in the race for two reasons: To gain leverage for bargaining for the VP slot and (in a rather generous take that I haven’t heard before) to keep the spotlight on the Democrats rather than allowing it to shift to McCain.

He hadn’t heard of Clinton’s recent bragging about her prowess at drawing “hard-working, white Americans,” but, he said: “It’s true. That’s just a fact.”

Consider North Carolina, Caldwell said. There, Obama won by 14 points and blacks (over 90 percent of whom voted for Obama) made up 34 percent of the electorate. “If you took the blacks out of it, she would have won by 14,” Caldwell said.

So does Obama have a problem with white voters?

“I don’t think he has any problem that any black man wouldn’t have among white voters. That’s just the world we live in.”

Is Clinton exploiting this reality?

“You can’t fault her for exploiting it. Anyone running opposed to Barack is going to exploit it. And Hillary has barely done it.”

Is there a way for Clinton to make a graceful exit at this point?

“If she wins in West Virginia and Kentucky she’s going out strong. It won’t be that she has a chance. It’ll be that she’s going out strong.”