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Former President Bill Clinton arrives to speak to a crowd at a get out the vote rally for Hillary Clinton on April 16, 2016 at Fowler High School in Syracuse, N.Y.

(Scott Schild)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Central New York got its first taste of intense presidential campaign politics this month as all five candidates held rallies in Syracuse.

All five candidates - Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and Republicans Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich - attracted overwhelmingly white audiences to their rallies.

Former President Bill Clinton - the man who some have called the first black president - attracted a more diverse audience Saturday at a rally at a high school in one of Syracuse's poorest neighborhoods. Clinton came to Syracuse to get out the vote for his wife, Hillary Clinton, three days before the New York primary.

There were more white people at the rally at Fowler High School than people of color. But there were black people there - maybe a quarter of the crowd.

That wasn't the case earlier this week at the rally for Ted Cruz in Cicero or for Donald Trump in Rome and Syracuse, where few black supporters were seen.

The crowds at Bernie Sanders' Syracuse rally earlier this week attracted few black voters, as did the Hillary Clinton rally earlier this month at the Central New York Regional Market, according to a reporters.

In the Southern states during this year's primary campaign, Hillary Clinton's campaign has received huge support from black voters.

Bill Clinton has come under fire in recent weeks from protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement who say that the crime bill he signed into law as president unnecessarily incarcerated black Americans for non-violent drug crimes.

Nancy Pollard, of Syracuse, a fan of Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, waits in line at a rally where Bill Clinton will speak on April 16, 2016 at Fowler High School in Syracuse, N.Y.

Hillary Clinton said in the Democratic presidential debate Thursday night that the crime bill had had unfortunate unintended consequences.

Nancy Pollard, a black woman from Syracuse, was among those attending the get out the vote rally for Hillary Clinton Saturday at Fowler High School.

She said she voted for Bill Clinton twice for president, for Hillary Clinton twice for U.S. senator, and even voted for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in 2008 during the Democratic presidential primary election.

"He was a person for all people," Pollard, a retired Syracuse schools teacher aide, said of Bill Clinton. "I just like him as a person."

She said she was lucky to get a photo of herself taken April 1 with Hillary Clinton during her campaign visit in Syracuse. She put the photo in a frame. It's sitting on the mantel in her home.

"I hope she becomes the president. Not because she'd be the first woman president. She'd be the most qualified president of the candidates," said Pollard, 72. "I just believe in her."

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