Posted: 12:03 p.m. | Updated: 1:47 p.m.

Former president Bill Clinton and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe spoke to a crowd of about 250 in downtown Roanoke this afternoon, asking for support and touting McAuliffe's job and energy plans.

The pair spoke for a little less than 30 minutes in front of Fire Station 1 on Church Avenue Southwest. The stop was their second after a morning rally in Richmond. Clinton, who was clearly the draw for most of the Roanoke crowd, said McAuliffe would move aggressively on job creation and new energy development to put the state on the front edge of the nation's economic recovery. Clinton also said McAuliffe could keep the governor's mansion in Democratic hands in an election that will have national political implications.

"The Republicans see this an opportunity to make some gains and set the stage for 2012," Clinton said during the Richmond appearance, which drew a crowd of about 400, according to Richmond officials. "Terry McAuliffe sees this an opportunity to make sure that Virginia leads the way in America's economic recovery."

McAuliffe is playing his political trump card by campaigning with Clinton six weeks before the June 9 Democratic primary, hoping to separate himself from state Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County and former Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria. The winner of the intraparty fight will face Republican Bob McDonnell, the former attorney general, in the November election.

McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, headed the fundraising effort for Clinton's 1996 re-election bid and chaired Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. But Clinton said his visit to Virginia is about more than returning a favor to a friend.

"I'd show up here regardless," Clinton said. "The press says, 'Oh, well, Terry McAuliffe raised millions of dollars for Bill Clinton, he's got to show up.' And that's absolutely true. But here's what I want to tell you: I'm here today for reasons that go way, way beyond that."

Clinton, a former governor of Arkansas, said governors will play key roles in the nation's economic recovery and said McAuliffe's plan to create jobs, particularly in emerging renewable energy fields, can accelerate Virginia's economic rebound.

"Governors will have an enormous impact on the speed of the economic recovery, the number of jobs that are created, the kinds of jobs that are created and whether ordinary families will actually be benefiting," Clinton said.