"It's nothing but a gambling town and a drug town," said Robert L. Black, 31, a childhood friend.

Clinton was raised in a gambling town in a poor and ridiculed state.

In conversation, he has the pitchman's reflex for elevating Atlantic City at the expense of the other gambling town.

After all, this is a gambling town.

But as Las Vegas's image changes from a gambling town to a family resort, room rates are going up.

"Why, it's a good gambling town," he said.

"Atlantic City is a gambling town now, and any attempt to sell it as anything else will only hold the city back."

It's the latest bad news for the gambling town.

But the community's rage lives on in this racially divided oil and gambling town near the Texas border.

Mr. Valentine said he was puzzled about why a gambling town would be so lucrative for magicians.