"We cannot turn over our country with these deep deficits, with these serious economic problems, with the international challenges, to the same team that got us into this mess in the first place," Clinton told more than 1,000 people gathered at a park in this town 10 miles west of the state capital.

"There's no doubt in anyone's mind that Senator Obama understands the economic challenges we face as well as the need to change the way we do business here at home and around the world."

Clinton also planned to campaign for Obama in Grand Rapids and Flint later Saturday. All events are free.

She said the "day of reckoning" has come for voters. She called Republican George Bush's presidency the worst in U.S. history. She added that Republican John McCain is a friend she respects.

"But I do not believe that the Republicans should be rewarded for what they have done to our country. Think of it that way," Clinton said.

She said the next president will inherit a lot of problems and, referring to Obama, said Americans want someone with new ideas and an ability to think outside the box.

Clinton lost the Democratic nomination to Obama in a close race but has recently stepped up efforts to swing her supporters behind her former rival.

She has invited her primary-season partisans to get involved directly in Obama's campaign and to donate to it.

The New York senator has campaigned for Obama in a handful of battleground states such as Ohio and Florida.

The crowd in the park included women like Joyce Bixler, 57, who said she was very disappointed Clinton lost the nomination.

"I am very much for Obama, though, and his change," said Bixler, a retired sale consultant who lives in Cortland, Ohio. She was in the area visiting friends.

Bixler said if Obama had selected Clinton to be his running mate, she would have "no doubt" about Democrats winning the White House.

"I still get goose bumps when I hear her talk because I wanted her so badly to win. I just think she's a smart woman."

Grand Ledge resident and Obama supporter Linda Drahnak, 64, said she came partly to hear how Clinton would persuade independents into Democrats' corner.

She wanted Clinton to "make the case that if Democrats do not win then the country may go to hell in a hand basket more than it is right now."

Drahnak, a retired payroll manager, said she liked Obama's "way of uniting people."