RICHMOND, Ind. -- Former President Bill Clinton told hundreds in Richmond on Tuesday afternoon that his wife is the Democrat with the best chance to win November's presidential election.

Clinton, speaking at a fire station during one of three Tuesday rallies in Indiana for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said his wife has proved during this year's primaries she has support beyond Democrats and that she is better situated than her Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, to beat the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.

"She can win because she's good on the economy, good on national security, and she has proved over and over again she can attract Republican votes," the former president said. "The more people know her, the more they like her."

Clinton also tried to position his wife as the choice of blue-collar Americans. He said Obama's main supporters appeared to be more affluent people who are satisfied with what the former president called vague offers of change.

The former president said blue-collar people want someone to deliver concrete change, and that his wife would be that person, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

"The wealthier Democrats who don't need a president but need a feeling of change, they're by and large not for her," he told the eastern Indiana audience. "The press has, until the last few weeks, been severely tilted and admittedly so -- (they've been) not for her.

"But she just keeps going on. You know why? Because every time her back's been against the wall, people like you have come to her aid."

The former president also campaigned for his wife in Lawrenceburg earlier in the afternoon and planned to attend a rally at the Grand Wayne Center in Fort Wayne at 6:45 p.m.

Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., plans to make four of her own Indiana stops on Thursday. Her focus on Indiana comes after Obama, D-Ill., campaigned in Plainfield on Saturday.

In Richmond, Bill Clinton said his wife is the candidate who would be the best commander in chief. She would maintain the country's military strength while getting troops out of Iraq, he said.

He said she also has the best health care program -- she has proposed health care coverage for every American -- and would be the best person to help rebuild the economy.

He also said his wife would beat McCain in key swing states such as Florida and Ohio.

"She just won a great victory in Ohio," he said, referring to her primary victory over Obama. "The governor of Ohio and (former U.S. Sen.) John Glenn both endorsed her, saying they're doing it because she'd be the best president and she's the best person to win that state in November."

Hillary Clinton and Obama are beginning to take interest in Indiana's May 6 primary and the state's 72 delegates because the candidates still are locked in a tight race two months after this year's Democratic primaries began.

Because many states hold primaries before May, presidential nominations often are wrapped up before Hoosiers get to vote. But because of this year's tight race, this is the first time in 40 years that Indiana's Democratic presidential primary has had the opportunity to matter.

According to an Associated Press count, Obama has 1,598 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,487, according to the AP. It takes 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination for president.