Local Democrats got a front row seat Monday night to a televised MSNBC town hall meeting with Hillary Clinton.
It was taped at the Old State Capitol in Springfield - the same building Barack Obama stood in front of when he announced he was running for President. And as "Hardball" host Chris Matthews noted in 1858, it's where Abraham Lincoln gave his "House Divided" speech.
"How are we doing on that subject today?," Matthews asked Clinton.
"We could use that speech again,” Clinton said. “From a lot of leaders as well as citizens because there's a disturbing amount of divisive rhetoric in this campaign that is playing on a lot of people's fears."
Clinton says that's engendering mean-spiritedness and bigotry that's bad for politics, and for the nation. She says she holds Republican candidate for President Donald Trump responsible for igniting violence at his rallies. Clinton, who grew up in the Chicago suburb Park Ridge, says she first visited Springfield on a class trip in 5th grade.
Despite her ties to the Land of Lincoln, polls show she's at risk of losing the state to Bernie Sanders.
