ALBANY, Ore. (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton renewed his wife's call for Sen. Barack Obama to participate in debates focused on rural issues in Oregon Saturday during a campaign trip through Western Oregon.

The former president addressed crowds in Junction City, Albany, Monmouth and McMinnville with more cities on deck. And he used the occasion to address rural issues key to his wife's campaign.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has challenged Obama to two debates, including one focused on issues affecting rural Oregon. The Obama campaign has not said if he will participate.

Clinton on Saturday also dismissed the criticism of an Oregon professor who, in an Associated Press article earlier this week, called the senator's effort to reach out to rural Oregon "old politics".

The former president said the majority of Oregon's counties are rural and what happens there matters. He called the attitude to dismiss small towns and rural America "old politics".

Clinton is in the second day of a swing around Oregon, stopping in the small towns that dot the Willamette Valley before winding up in Portland on Saturday night. He echoed his rural theme in front of a crowd of about 1,400 in Albany, telling them that "people like you are the reason she is still in this race."

He also outlined his wife's plans for energy independence, and highlighted her vote against a Bush administration bill that gave final say over the siting of liquefied natural gas terminals to the federal government, instead of the states. Several such terminals are under consideration now in Oregon.

But the largest cheers were reserved for Hillary Clinton's plans to preserve benefits for veterans of the Iraq war, and for her pledge to bring home most of the troops and "restore U.S. standing in the world," evidence of the strong sway the issue holds over Oregon voters.

He also promised the crowd that if elected, Clinton would restore federal payments to timber dependent counties, and send more money to states for community policing efforts.

Bill Clinton avoided many direct references to Obama after getting in hot water over controversial statements the former president has made during the campaign.

Clinton joked his speeches Saturday amounted to a "foray into wonkdom" - a reference to his often lengthy policy speeches - rather than a direct attack on Obama.

The closest he came to directly criticizing Obama was before a crowd at Western Oregon University in Monmouth where he indirectly criticized Obama's vote on the Bush-Cheney energy bill that he says is "disgraceful".

He said the bill "stripped from Oregon the authority to make decisions about the siting of liquid natural gas facilities." Three LNG facilities have been proposed in Oregon.

"You may want them but you ought to have a say in them, don't you think?" Clinton asked the crowd.

The Obama campaign, meanwhile, marshaled Portland Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a superdelegate from Portland, to make the case against Clinton, who just this week challenged Obama to two debates in Oregon and released a 13-page policy plan for the state.

"The issue in this election isn't that Oregonians need more 13 page documents - the issue is who is going to finally turn the page on the failed divisive politics and kick the special interests out of Washington D.C. to get it done," Blumenauer said. "Senator Obama was the only candidate who understood the folly of giving George W. Bush a blank check to invade Iraq."

Clinton spokeswoman Julie Edwards said, "Now that Barack Obama is claiming to have such a detailed plan for Oregon he should come out here for a Lincoln-Douglas-style debate and let Oregonians decide."

In McMinnville Bill Clinton stressed Oregon issues, saying his wife would make "an aggressive effort to address the decline of salmon stock" and would support proposed wilderness areas around Mount Hood and the Copper River in southern Oregon.

Jerri Stinson, an undecided voter from North Albany, said she was leaning toward voting for Clinton, though she admired Obama's charisma and energy.

"Look, we have never been more hated by the rest of the world," Stinson said. "What better change than a Democrat, than a woman? She can get in there, go toe to toe with the good old boys." 

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