KIRKWOOD, Mo. (AP) -- Former President Bill Clinton stumped for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in suburban St. Louis on Monday night, calling the Illinois senator the right person for the job.

"This is a job interview. You're the boss. You're hiring someone to be the president," Clinton told 2,500 enthusiastic supporters who packed the Kirkwood High School gymnasium and about 3,500 others who listened in an overflow room.

As the crowd hollered its approval, he added, "The clear answer is Barack Obama."

(KMOV.com Extra: Watch Former President Bill Clinton's entire speech)

Clinton said Obama has the policies and skills to succeed in fixing the nation's financial problems, restoring the American dream and improving the nation's standing in the world.

(Photos: Clinton campaigns for Obama in Kirkwood)

For the most part, Clinton avoided taking aim at Republican nominee John McCain, who campaigned earlier Monday in suburban St. Charles County.

Clinton focused instead on areas where he disagreed with decisions by President Bush, and why he thought Obama was making smart decisions related to the economy -- praising, for instance, Obama's stance on trying to put a moratorium on home foreclosures to allow time to better address the problem.

He described Obama as a person with the right kind of intelligence for the presidency.

"You need a president who wants to understand and who can understand," he said.

The former president's nearly hour-long talk only included a few brief references to the campaign by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for the Democratic nomination, but he noted that she and Obama campaigned together Monday in Florida.

He also said many of her former supporters now back Obama. Clinton said he recently gave a lunch for military leaders who had supported her candidacy, and said most openly voiced their support for Obama.

Clinton urged those in attendance to vote, and also encouraged them to work to swell the number of Obama's supporters, by talking to others about why they support him.

"These elections are made of millions and millions of people making highly personal decisions," he said.

They should feel they're the ones hiring a president, and if they considered Obama's decision-making thus far, including his vice presidential pick of Sen. Joe Biden, "Then, one answer screams out at you."

McCain, in his St. Charles County appearance Monday morning, said he believed Obama would raise taxes and dig the nation deeper into debt with new programs and spending. McCain said instead he would make the government live on a budget, just as the American people do.

Missouri is a critical swing state, where polls show Obama and McCain in a virtual dead heat.

Before Clinton appeared, St. Louis County executive Charlie Dooley, a Democrat, told the Kirkwood audience it is the state's largest county, and stressed how their votes could make a real difference in the election.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)