INDIANAPOLIS -- Former President Bill Clinton on Monday visited four Indiana communities and his daughter began a three-day tour of college campuses in the state, both trying to persuade Hoosiers to support Hillary Clinton in the May 6 presidential primary.

Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton appeared together at two events in South Bend before they split. At a Dyngus Day celebration at South Bend's West Side Democratic Club, the former president told a crowd of about 300 that his wife has the best ideas for solving the nation's problems.

"I think she'd be the best to get the economy going and rebuild the middle class and plan the future for our kids," he said.

Bill Clinton stressed the need to change the nation's health care system -- a main campaign theme for his wife. He asked the crowd how many knew someone without health care. Most people raised their hands.

"This is the only wealthy country on Earth where people would ask that question during an election," Clinton said.

Dyngus Day, observed on a small scale in a handful of U.S. cities, celebrates the end of Lenten sacrifice and the arrival of spring. In South Bend, it has traditionally been a time for politicians to informally meet, talk and shake hands with their constituents.

Chelsea Clinton also spoke briefly at the event and at an evening rally at the Indiana University Ballroom in Bloomington. The former president also attended a second event in South Bend and rallies in Rochester and Logansport and was to visit West Lafayette on Monday evening.

Hillary Clinton, a Democrat and U.S. senator from New York, is scheduled to make an Indiana campaign stop on Friday. Details of that stop haven't been released.

Actor Sean Astin also appeared with Chelsea Clinton at IU. On Tuesday, she and Astin will be at Ball State's art and journalism building at 10:15 a.m.; Butler University's Atherton Union at 1:30 p.m.; and the campus center of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis at 3:30 p.m.

The Ball State event will be "a largely informal, question-and-answer session," the university said in a news release.

Chelsea Clinton and Astin also were to visit Notre Dame on Wednesday, but details of that visit weren't immediately released.

Astin starred in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the Notre Dame football movie "Rudy."

The former president was in Indiana on May 18, campaigning in Lawrenceburg, Richmond and Fort Wayne for his wife.

Hillary Clinton campaigned in Indiana on Thursday, visiting Terre Haute, Anderson and Evansville.

Her rival for the Democratic nomination for president, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., attended a town-hall-style meeting in Plainfield on March 15.

Both candidates are expected to be in Indiana several times leading up to the state's May 6 primary.

The primary will determine the candidates' share of the state's 72 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

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.