Former President Bill Clinton stumped for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe across Fairfax County on Wednesday, striking a fiscally hawkish tone as he described his close friend and longtime adviser.

Clinton, arriving characteristically late to a rally at Herndon’s Frying Pan Park, framed McAuliffe as the man to balance spending and restraint in the governor’s mansion, and who would “tell you the truth when something can’t be done and money can’t be spent.”