Former President Bill Clinton works the rope line yesterday after addressing a crowded gym on behalf of his wife, presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, at Bryant University. He says Senator Clinton can turn the race around with wins in Rhode Island, Texas and Ohio.

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The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

SMITHFIELD

Calling New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton a “world-class change maker,” former President Bill Clinton offered a passionate case for his wife’s presidential campaign yesterday before students and admirers at Bryant University.

“No state in America has been better for me or our family,” Clinton said of Rhode Island. “I have tried to be there for you. I hope on March 4, you’ll be there for her.”

Rhode Islanders vote on Tuesday in Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. The key states of Ohio and Texas also vote then, along with Vermont.

Hillary Clinton is trying to break a string of 11 consecutive Democratic primary and caucus wins by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who leads in delegates to the party’s nominating convention in Denver.

The amount of attention that has been lavished on Rhode Island in advance of next week’s presidential primaries is unprecedented in a generation:

Obama’s wife, Michelle, headlined campaign events in Providence and Warwick last week.

Hillary Clinton brought supporters out for a rally in Providence on Sunday. At a debate in Ohio on Tuesday, the candidates discussed a video clip of Clinton mocking Obama during her weekend event at Rhode Island College.

And tomorrow, Barack Obama headlines a “Stand for Change” campaign rally, also at Rhode Island College. Doors will open at noon.

In presenting a 45-minute case yesterday for his wife’s candidacy, the former president said Hillary Clinton can turn the race around with wins in Rhode Island, Texas and Ohio. He did not mention Vermont, where polls suggest Obama enjoys a large lead. The contests in Ohio and Texas are perceived to be very close; recent polls suggest Clinton leads here.

He laid out his case in three points: Hillary Clinton has a better record producing change in the lives of ordinary people she has the better ideas and she would be the better commander in chief of the armed forces.

“I believe most of the people voting in the primary like both of the candidates and they’re trying to decide,” Clinton said.

One thing the voters agree on — they want change, he said. “But to do it, the president needs to be a change-maker.” He presented stories from his wife’s resumé, such as her work at the Children’s Defense Fund, the education reform efforts she led as first lady of Arkansas during Bill Clinton’s time as governor, and health reforms she worked on during his presidency.

“She was changing the future for people,” he said.

As a senator, Hillary Clinton has built a record of bipartisan accomplishments, Bill Clinton said, citing her cooperation with the likely Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, to convince skeptical senators that the threat of global warming is real.

Bill Clinton criticized the economic policies of President Bush and warned, “We cannot turn the economy around if we don’t create more jobs.”

For job creation, he recommended his wife’s plan to invest in creating “green-collar” jobs in energy conservation and alternative energies. “There is an endless supply of opportunity here,” he said. A focus on solar, wind and bio-fuel energy would create jobs for people of all education levels, he said, and would cut the U.S. production of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Once the United States proves that going green is good for the economy, the other large polluters, such as China and India, will follow, he said.

He spoke at length about his wife’s health-care plan, and lamented that the United States is the only wealthy nation in the world that does not provide all its citizens with health-care coverage.

About 2,600 people packed the gymnasium in the Chace Athletic Center — 2,000 students and faculty and staff members and 600 members of the public, according to Tracie Sweeney, director of public relations at Bryant.

Another 330 people packed a room on the other side of the athletic center, where the speech was simulcast for the overflow crowd.

Pitching his remarks to the students, Clinton highlighted his wife’s plans to raise Pell grants to keep up with inflation and increase the tuition tax credit. She would crack down on student lenders that abuse their clients, he said.

He said American troops need to come home from Iraq, to force Iraqis to decide two key issues for themselves: how to split oil revenues and how to share power. Hillary Clinton “will never abandon” Iraq war vets who have suffered physical or mental injuries, he pledged.

Classes were canceled yesterday afternoon. Students began lining up hours before the speech for tickets.

But not everybody was persuaded to vote for Clinton. “He made a lot of good points about Hillary and I’m going to think a lot harder about who I’m voting for now,” said 20-year-old Don Smith of Hartford, Conn., a junior with a double major in management and marketing

“But I’m an Obama person. I’m probably going to vote for him,” Smith said. He added he would “most definitely” vote for Clinton if Obama weren’t in the race.

Much of Bill Clinton’s speech was sober, and parts of it wonky. He lightened the mood with a few jokes near the end.

What’s it like to be president?

“If you’re not careful, you could think that you were somebody,” he said. “They play a song when you enter a room.”

Presidents don’t sit in Beltway traffic.

There’s no commute; you walk downstairs to the office.

“You live in America’s finest public housing.”

“All the president is,” Clinton said, “is the most fortunate hired hand on the face of the earth.”

marsenau@projo.com