BILLINGS -- Former President Bill Clinton wasted no time painting his wife as the right candidate for Montana, citing her support for the farm bill, coal energy and other important state issues.

Asserting that the New York senator was the proven changemaker in the presidential primary, Clinton vowed that a President Hillary Rodham Clinton would make clean coal a reality, then moved onto a more national platform in a 45-minute speech at the Yellowstone County Democrats' annual Truman Dinner Saturday.

"She believes any country that can lead the world to the moon can lead the way to clean coal and (hybrid electric) car batteries," Clinton told an audience of about 1,500 gathered at Montana State University-Billings' Alterowitz Gymnasium.

He was the last speaker in a more than three-hour rally of support for Democrats running for office at all levels. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal spoke for candidate Barack Obama.

With China turning on a new coal-fired energy plant every 10 days, America cannot stem carbon dioxide from coal simply by cleaning up its own plants, Clinton said, but the nation should be the country that brings clean-coal technology to the world.

"If you shut down every coal mine in America, as every young person who has studied global warming knows, China and India and other industrial countries can burn up the world without any help from us," he said.

He also touched on the importance of the farm bill, underscoring that upstate New York has an agriculture economy and Hillary Clinton does support the current farm bill, something the candidate lashed out at Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona for not supporting.

Freudenthal, speaking on Obama's behalf, evoked roars from the crowd as he asserted that the Illinois senator was the right president for Western states. Freudenthal said he became an Obama supporter after the candidate opened offices in Wyoming before it was clear sparsely populated Western states were needed to win the party's nomination. He was assured Obama would respect Western values.

"I'd rather be respected by the next occupant of the White House for what our values are than be taken for granted as a flyover region," Freudenthal said.

Freudenthal touched on two matters germane to Western states: federal government land ownership and energy development.

In Montana and Wyoming, the federal government is the largest landowner, which presents management issues in which politicians from more urban states like Obama's Illinois and Hillary Clinton's New York aren't well versed. State concerns about cattle being infected with brucellosis from bison wandering out of Yellowstone National Park is one example. The debate over drilling for natural gas along the federal Bureau of Land Management's portion of the Rocky Mountain Front near Choteau is another.

Freudenthal said when he met with Obama before Wyoming's March 8 primary, federal management and ownership of land in Wyoming was one of the first things he brought up. Obama seemed to have a good legal understanding of the issue, though his familiarity with matters specific to Wyoming could have been better, the governor said.

"I think he does understand," Freudenthal said. "His answers were more detailed than someone with a superficial understanding might give. He was able to answer intelligently questions about public lands."

The candidate also seemed to grasp the importance Western states place on coal, Freudenthal said, not only coal's potential role in national energy independence, but also the need for a well-educated workforce to address coal's environmental liabilities.

With a steady supply of fiery speakers and former president Clinton warming up in the bullpen, Democrats were felling their oats.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer crowed that since 2001, Democrats have taken governor seats across the Rocky Mountain West. Congressional candidate Jim Hunt vowed to unseat incumbent Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg. And everyone asserted that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would take back the White House.

"Today, from Alberta to Mexico, it's a giant blue line of Democratic governors," Schweitzer yelled.

Every statewide Democratic official gave a message except for Sen. Max Baucus, who was in Washington, D.C.

But Baucus' written statement read to the crowd may have been the most important message for Montana Democratic candidates.

"Whether it's man hours or money, I'm going to make sure that Democrats are elected across the state," Baucus said.

Baucus had $6.4 million in his campaign coffers at the end of March, the last funding period reported. Collectively, the five Republicans competing to run in the general election against the five-term senator reported $10,000. That disparity in funding should enable Baucus to share the wealth with fellow Democrats on the undercard.

The keynote speaker was Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Viewed as an up-and-comer, Klobuchar was an upstart county attorney from Minnesota when she first met Bill Clinton.

She was invited to the White House to introduce the Democratic president at a crime-related bill signing. As she waited to walk into the media room, Klobuchar had then Attorney General Janet Reno standing on her left. Bill Clinton stood to her right. The music started and Klobuchar headed to the lectern.

"I felt this big hand on my shoulder and this voice said, 'You know, you're going to do great out there, but when they play that song, I usually go first,' " Klobuchar told Democrats.

She told the Truman crowd that Democrats are just a few Senate seats away from overriding Republican filibusters and making real political change. As she counted down the seats needed, the crowd roared.

"If we have just five more votes, we can guarantee negotiations of prescription drug prices for our seniors for Medicare Part D," Klobuchar said. "Just one more vote and we can override a presidential veto on stem cell research."

Three more votes and Democrats can require that soldiers get leave time equal to their time in Iraq, she said.