Despite being out of office for nearly eight years, former President Clinton showed he can still work a crowd as he energized more than 2,000 people at a Grand Wayne Center campaign stop for his wife.

He told the packed house that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is the best candidate to lead America into a new era of prosperity.

“If you want long-term fiscal responsibility, you vote for Hillary for president,” the former president said.

Bill Clinton’s nearly one-hour speech focused on his wife’s ability to help the U.S. economy, her ability to lead the military and her ability to defeat Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the fall general election.

He spent most of his time talking about the former first lady’s economic plans, including how she will battle rising numbers of foreclosures, make it easier for people to attend college and commit to working under a balanced federal budget.

He reminded the crowd of the economic successes of the 1990s while he was president and said those times – and better – will return if she is elected.

Many in the crowd brought signs focusing on ending the Iraq war and creating fairer trade agreements. Indiana has a higher-than-average percentage of its population in the military, and the state has lost many of its manufacturing jobs after companies relocated plants out of the country.

The former president said his wife would work toward fairer trade agreements and would enforce the rules currently in place. He said she will also work hard to ensure veterans are taken care of, partly by not keeping soldiers deployed as long in the first place.

Harold Baskins, a 64-year-old Army veteran, said he supported Sen. Clinton because she will be best to solve the economic problems facing the country. He also said while he knows the country can’t abandon Iraq – where he served just a few years ago – Clinton is the person best suited to end the conflict.

“I think she’ll get the brothers out of Iraq,” he said.

The former president’s Fort Wayne visit ended a three-city swing across Indiana on Tuesday after similar rallies in Lawrenceburg and Richmond earlier in the day. Hillary Clinton will travel to Terre Haute, Anderson and Evansville on Thursday, giving the campaign six high-profile stops across the state just days after Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., visited Plainfield, outside Indianapolis.

The attention paid to the Hoosier State is a rarity in presidential politics as the nominee is typically determined before the state’s May primary.

But because Obama and Clinton are running so close, even this state’s 72 delegates become crucial. Obama has 1,598 delegates, while Clinton has 1,487, according to an Associated Press count. A candidate needs 2,024 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination for president.

The former president’s visit even caused the local GOP chairman to react. Steve Shine showed off a 12-foot-by-5-foot sign at his law firm on Broadway reading, “The Allen County Republican Party Welcomes President Bill Clinton. This is McCain Country.”

Shine said the sign was to show that while people may get excited about Clinton’s visit to the community, they shouldn’t forget that Allen County is a Republican stronghold that has delivered wide victory margins to the last several GOP presidential candidates. He also took a shot at the former president, saying he is only now visiting the Summit City while stumping for his wife but never took the time to visit while president.

Clinton mentioned McCain several times during his speech but addressed Obama only once, calling him “her opponent,” even repeating that he liked all the Democrats who sought the presidential nod this year.

He said, however, that it is crucial for Hoosier voters to support his wife to get her the nomination because Indiana’s proximity to Illinois favors Obama.

“If you elect her, she will be the nominee and the next president,” he told the Hoosier crowd.

The former president said because Hillary Clinton has won battleground states like Ohio and Florida, she will be able to win them in the fall, but he did not mention whether his wife could win the typically Republican-leaning Indiana come November.

Mayor Tom Henry opened the event by introducing former Gov. Joe Kernan, who introduced the former president by giving a resounding endorsement of his wife.

“We need someone who can lead this country from the first day she takes office,” Kernan said. “She is capable, she is committed and she cares.”

Bill Clinton will continue his campaigning today with planned visits to four Pennsylvania communities.

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