Former President Bill Clinton addressed a crowd estimated in the hundreds Friday night in Ripley.

With four days left before the West Virginia primary...he said Hillary Clinton was the best candidate for his old job, on issues ranging from the environment to education.

The former president, who spent the day campaigning in the Mountain State, did not mention Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama.

But he did cite recent polls saying Clinton could beat Republican John McCain by a greater margin than Obama could in the November election...and he also mentioned the presumptive Republican nominee.

"He's given all you can give for this country without getting killed; he deserves our respect," Clinton told the crowd gathered at the Ripley Volunteer Fire Department. "But we disagree with him on the war and on the economy. The issue is, how are we going to turn this country around and get it moving forward?"

Clinton did suggest that winning West Birginia by a large margin was important to Senator Clinton's efforts to overtake Obama in pledged delegates.

Obama plans to campaign in the Mountain State Monday

The campaign venue is located less than half a block from where President Bush spoke in 2002, during Ripley's Fourth of July celebration.