CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that struggling rural regions like coal-dependent southern West Virginia, a once-Democratic stronghold now firmly red, should be the focus of new energy investments and infrastructure improvement.

In a 41-minute speech at the state Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Clinton focused more on economic woes in rural West Virginia and his home state of Arkansas than on promoting his wife, presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It’s one of his early stops as he becomes more active on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton.

He recently headlined fundraisers in Chicago, Atlanta and suburban Kansas City.

He likened himself to “an old horse you keep in the stable, and then an election comes along, and you come in and give me a few extra oats” and “see if you can get a ride just one more time.”

Clinton questioned why there aren’t assembly companies for windmills and solar plants investing in the state’s coal-dependent reaches, and said universal broadband should be extended into the area.

Clinton said “serious investment” is needed in the area, not just additional job training.

Focus should be placed on finding “a reasonable transition for people in this part of the world, so we don’t waste the best years of their lives and expect them to get by on a disability check,” he said.