Obama Morning News

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Sunday November 2 2008 09:19:48 AM

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama began their final push for the White House on Saturday across an electoral map markedly different from four years ago, evidence of Mr. Obama’s success at putting new states into contention and limiting Mr. McCain’s options in the final hours.

Mr. Obama was using the last days of the contest to make incursions into Republican territory, campaigning Saturday in three states — Colorado, Missouri and Nevada — that President Bush won relatively comfortably in 2004.

Across the country, there was abundant evidence of just how much excitement the contest had stirred: In Colorado, 46 percent of the electorate has already voted in that state’s early voting program. Voters in states like Missouri, Montana, North Carolina and Virginia were getting knocks on their doors, telephone calls and leaflets slipped under their windshield wipers.

...“After 12 months and three debates,” Mr. Obama said in Henderson, Nev., “John McCain has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing that he would do different from George Bush on the economy.”

...The campaign’s final days brought a reminder of how Mr. Obama’s financial might had allowed him to redraw the political map. In addition to the states he visited on Saturday, Mr. Obama was planning stops Sunday in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, which went Republican four years ago.

From the Missouri News-Leader:

"Yes we can," Obama said, his slogan across 21 months of campaigning.

...Obama was in Nevada, then Colorado and Missouri, all states that voted for President Bush four years ago. Obama's visit to Colorado marked his sixth trip to the swing state since he clinched his party's nomination in June.

...When Obama arrived in Pueblo, Colo., his family was waiting for him on the tarmac, wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha. Obama kissed his wife, hugged his daughters.

"We are three days away from bringing fundamental change to the United States of America," Obama said. He told the crowd not to let up. "Not when so much is at stake," he said.

...Campaigning in Missouri became a family affair for Obama, who appeared on stage with his wife and daughters before tens of thousands gathered on a high school football field in Springfield, Mo. The location was in Green County, where 62 percent of voters cast ballots for Bush four years ago.

"After eight years of failed policies from George W. Bush," Obama started, sparking a chorus of boos from the crowd at the president's name. "We don't need to boo, we just need to vote," he responded.

...Obama seized on Cheney's fresh endorsement of McCain, praising the vice president for climbing out of his "undisclosed location."

"I'd like to congratulate Sen. McCain on this endorsement, because he really earned it," Obama said in Pueblo, Colo. "That endorsement didn't come easy. Sen. McCain had to vote with George Bush 90 percent of the time and agree with Dick Cheney to get it."

Like Obama and McCain, the vice presidential running mates campaigned toward the finish line.

Sen. Joe Biden was in Indiana, another traditionally Republican state where Democrats are running hard, and later in Ohio, a competitive state. He accused Republicans of "trying to take the low road to the highest office in the land. They are calling Barack Obama every name in the book."

...Early voting statistics were large, and tilted Democratic. In North Carolina, officials said 2.3 million ballots had been cast as of Saturday morning, 52 percent of them by Democrats and 30 percent by Republicans.

In Missouri, spokesman Justin Hamilton said Obama's campaign had agreements with cab companies across the state to provide Election Day rides to the polls for any voter who wanted one.

He said the callers would not be asked how they intended to vote.

From the Kansas City Star:

More than 100 Obama supporters have cut through Saturday’s thick fog to await last-minute instructions at campaign headquarters in midtown Kansas City.

Some have coffee and donuts before starting phone calls or marching through neighborhoods, looking for votes.

“This is kind of our rehearsal for Tuesday,” said volunteer Jackie Gafford. “Everybody knows what they need to do.”

“I might not have done this in Kansas, with all their early voting,” said volunteer Caroline McKnight, who will be making phone calls for Obama. “But they’re really excited in Missouri to get out on Election Day.”

...Obama has the biggest political ground effort in Missouri’s history.

“These are all folks now, no matter what happens November 4, who are really engaged in their communities,” said Buffy Wicks, Obama state director.

Penny Hershman is one of Obama’s 250 neighborhood leaders in Jackson County. There are 2,500 of them in the state, workers who have been trained in political outreach — after promising to work a minimum of 20 hours each week for the Democrat.

Hershman stopped last week at the south Kansas City home of Mark Bureman, who quickly told her she would not have to work too hard. Bureman was firmly onboard with Obama.

“This is going to be an easy house for you,” he said.

Hershman asked whether Bureman and his wife, Linda, could volunteer to make phone calls at Obama headquarters over the weekend. Check and check. Both signed up for shifts.

Being from the area helps, Hershman said. “You say, ‘I’m Penny, and I’m from the neighborhood.’ I think they respond to you a little better.”

...The campaign has established a sophisticated, computer-based outreach program — all data wind up getting poured into a big database in Chicago — that climaxes this weekend.

Campaign staff leadership has been divided into 400 similar teams. A team supervisor works with coordinators of canvassing, data processing, volunteer recruitment and phone banks. The teams are in charge of a particular area and keep meticulous notes about each contact made, either in person or over the phone.

...“There’s been this disconnect,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat and Obama supporter. “There’s not been a focus on connecting people who want to be a part of the campaign to the campaign.”

The tools, of course, have changed. Door knocks and phone calls have been added to cell phone outreach and text-messaging, a technological advantage that has brought the Obama campaign millions of dollars and thousands of extra volunteers.

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Saturday November 1 2008 08:54:48 AM

From the Washington Post:

With barely 100 hours left in the presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama returned to Iowa...

"What you started right here in Iowa has swept the nation," Obama told 25,000 supporters at a downtown rally that seemed a world away from the gatherings in coffee shops and high school gymnasiums that marked the months before he won the January caucuses.

...Obama continued to hammer McCain as a candidate who has no significant economic policy differences with Bush. He said his opponent would do little to help the middle class and had turned to negative campaigning despite a 2000 pledge not to "take the low road to the highest office in this land."

"But the high road didn't take him to the White House then, so he decided to take a different route," Obama said, warning the Des Moines crowd to expect four more days of "slash and burn, say-anything, do-anything politics."

...Republicans, in recent elections, have done better than Democrats in getting voters to cast ballots before Election Day, yet Plouffe cited projections for unusually high Democratic turnout in such battlegrounds as North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia.

In Florida, Plouffe said, Republicans finished with a 40,000-vote edge among early and absentee voters in 2004, while Democrats currently have a 200,000-vote lead. He said Obama is doing better with Hispanics, including Colombians, Puerto Ricans and young Cuban-Americans, than did Sen. John F. Kerry.

...In Iowa, Democrats have cast more absentee ballots than Republicans on every day but one since voting began, Plouffe said. In Nevada, 43 percent of early-voting Democrats are people who have not voted before or only sporadically. But Plouffe stopped short of predicting victory in the states he described, instead reiterating the campaign's long-standing goal of expanding the map.

...Obama's return to Iowa, a state carried by Bush four years ago and now leaning Democratic, had a nostalgic feel for the candidate and his staff members. "The people of Iowa, I will always be grateful to you," Obama said. "Think about the journey we've made."

..."We started the campaign right here," Obama said. "Back then, we didn't have much money and we didn't have many endorsements. We weren't given much chance by the polls or the pundits. We knew how steep our climb would be.

...Obama, who urged his supporters not to let up, would love the season's voting to end as it began, with an Iowa win.

"As great as all these moments are," campaign strategist David Axelrod said as he watched Obama bask in the cheers, "I don't think we'll ever quite capture the feeling of that last night in Iowa when we won. This is hallowed ground for us."

From the CBS News West:

More than 40,000 people attended Senator Barack Obama’s rally in Lake County Friday night. He's making one last push to sway undecided voters in this close presidential race

...Car load by car load, Obama's appearance attracted the attention of some and inspired others.

..."It does help our younger people realize that the possibilities are out there for them to excel as well as Barack has done," said Shirley Sheppard.

Obama took the stage after sunset. He told the crowd, the work is far from over.

"Don't believe for a second this election is over," Obama said.

"After 21 months from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California we are four days from change in the United States of America," Obama said.

With Hoosiers concerned about the economy, jobs and education, whoever Lake County and Hoosiers support, the final push of campaigning is really just the beginnin

From ABC News:

You've heard of Joe the Plumber. Well, meet Joe the Boot Seller.

Joe Tanoos has owned Tromp and Tread, a work and sport shoe store, for 30 years. He lives in Vigo County in western Indiana, a place where they somehow always seem to pick a White House winner.

This county has gone with the winning presidential candidate all but two times over the last 100 years, and every time since 1952.

"I think we are probably a microcosm of the country," said Fred Bauer, a lifelong Terre Haute resident. "We've got a rural population, an urban population. And we are Hoosiers, so we are pretty independent."

..."The local Democratic label to the national label isn't very good, says Tom Steiger, a professor of sociology at Indiana State University. "So it really forces people here to become independent voters. They can't just sort of vote the ticket."

So it's not party affiliation but issues that rule in Vigo County. And this year, the economy is issue No. 1 for a community hit hard by manufacturing layoffs.

Fewer jobs in town mean less foot traffic at Joe Tanoos' boot store.

"I'm really concerned about my business and my pocketbook," said Tanoos. "I'm in safety footwear, and my factory business has really dropped off, as well as my walk-in business."

Tanoos voted for President Bush in 2004 because of national security issues, but this time around he's going with the Democratic choice.

"I believe we are ready for a change, definitely, a fresh approach, a fresh face. That's why I'm going to vote for Barack Obama," said Tanoos.

...Thanks to a hotly contested Democratic primary in May, Obama has made 48 campaign stops in Indiana, including eight stops since the Democratic convention.

From the Sarasota Herlad Tribune:

As many as 1,500 campaign volunteers for the presidential campaigns are expected to flood into Sarasota and Manatee counties [in Florida] over the final 72 hours in an unprecedented final push for votes in the area.

Local Republicans have long reveled in their ability to out-staff Democrats in the waning hours of an election and get more voters to the polls. But this year, Barack Obama's team has been able to counter with what their organizers predict will be twice as many volunteers as John McCain's in the area over the weekend.

They will be walking nearly every street, knocking on doors of people who have yet to vote early and making sure they can get to the polls on Tuesday. Others will be on telephones, dialing up voters to see who needs help making it to the polls or getting absentee ballots sent in.

The number of volunteers combing the region is unlike anything seen here before, thanks to the region's emerging status as part of the Interstate 4 corridor. Who wins the corridor is likely to win Florida, a state so consequential that it could guarantee victory for Democrat Barack Obama and defeat for Republican John McCain.

"This is it," said David Johnson, a Republican political consultant. "It all comes down to who can get out the vote."

Highly organized and massive volunteer efforts by Republicans ground forces in the final days of 2000 and 2004 campaigns are widely credited with George W. Bush's two victories in Florida. ...But Obama supporters are adamant that they are up to the task this time and armed with rival technology that will help them win the get-out-the-vote battle.

The Obama campaign expects to get about 1,000 volunteers for Saturday, which would be enough to cover "every street" in town, organizers say.

A record 400 potential volunteers turned out to an organizational meeting earlier this week at Marina Jack. Obama campaign workers told the volunteers to come back this weekend, and each bring one or two more with them.

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Friday October 31 2008 08:31:00 AM

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

"We are five days away, Virginia Beach, from changing America," the Illinois senator said. "We can't let up for one minute, one day, one second of the next five days."

In his 10th trip to Virginia since he secured the Democratic nomination, Obama again emphasized the nation's economic turmoil.

"It's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage payment, fill up the gas tank, even keep the electricity on at night," Obama said.

...Obama on a couple of occasions invoked former President Bill Clinton, with whom he campaigned in Florida late Wednesday night.

"I've got an economic plan that's similar to Bill Clinton's," Obama said. "John McCain has an economic plan that's similar to George Bush's."

...Obama is trying to become the first Democratic presidential candidate since 1964 to win the state and its 13 electoral votes. He and his running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., have made more campaign stops in Virginia than in any other states but Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida.

...As the crowd filed into the outdoor amphitheater to see Obama, FA-18 Super Hornets, carrier-based fighter jets, flew past on training runs.

Some of Obama's biggest applause lines invoked the military.

"I will end the war in Iraq responsibly," he said at one point.

"No more homeless veterans, no more fighting for disability payments, " he added.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Sen. Jim Webb and former Gov. Mark R. Warner joined Obama, as did Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-3rd.

From the Columbian Missourian:

In a mad dash toward Tuesday's general election, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is trying to make sure voters make it to the polls.

"I have two words for you tonight," he said during his rally Thursday night at MU's Mel Carnahan Quadrangle.

"Five days."

..."We can't afford to slow down," Obama said. "We've got to go win an election right here in Missouri."

...Thousands packed tightly around the Obama stage, and thousands more gathered around a jumbo screen on the north end of the quad, where a hill blocked spectators' view of Obama. Many held video cameras above their heads to capture the moment, while hundreds shifted from place to place struggling for even a brief glimpse of the Democratic candidate for president.

...The candidate arrived at Columbia Regional Airport at 8:35 p.m. after holding a rally in Virginia Beach, Va. He arrived on campus just after 9 p.m.

..."How many people make less than a quarter million dollars a year?" Obama asked, as hands shot up across the packed quadrangle.

The senator then repeated his promise to cut taxes for 95 percent of working American families.

Obama also promised to provide tax breaks to companies that invest in the United States. He also pledged to create 2 million new jobs to renovate the country's infrastructure and 5 million new energy jobs.

...Several prominent Missouri Democrats spoke before Obama. They included 25th District State Rep. Judy Baker, Attorney General Jay Nixon, State Auditor Susan Montee and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

...All speakers addressed the need for supporters to get out and vote.

"We are five days from fundamentally transforming the United States of America," Obama said. "If you'll stand with me and fight beside me and cast your vote for me, we will not only win Missouri, we will win this general election."

From the Allentown Morning Call:

Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of more than 1,500 at Muhlenberg College's Memorial Hall in a speech that centered on economic issues, Biden dismissed Republican John McCain's recent efforts to distance himself from President Bush.

...before a sympathetic crowd Thursday, Biden didn't hold back, hitting McCain repeatedly on the economy and accusing him of trying to divide voters and distract them from serious issues.

''I know Barack Obama,'' Biden said. ''I know him well. This man has steel in his spine. Barack Obama can take five more days of these attacks, but our country cannot take four more years of George Bush and John McCain.''

Still, Biden promised that if elected Tuesday, he and Obama would reach across the aisle to unify the country.

...Part of Biden's job in Allentown was to fire up the campaign's volunteer ground troops, a point driven home by Lehigh Valley volunteer coordinator James Long during Biden's introduction.

The weekend before an election is a critical period for making a final case to undecideds and preparing to get voters to the polls. ''Polls don't vote. We have to turn these voters out if we want those votes,'' Long said.

...While she's not as jittery as in past elections, Kelle Kichline of South Whitehall Township said she wasn't taking an Obama victory in Pennsylvania or anywhere else for granted.

''I plan to volunteer,'' said Kichline, 37, a lifelong Democrat who attended the Biden rally. ''I'm pretty confident, but there are still five days.''

...Obama's wife, Michelle, held a forum on military families at Cedar Crest College in Allentown earlier this month.

From the Kansas City Tribune:

The 1930s Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast was once asked by a visiting member of the British Parliament how the city was organized, and Pendergast replied, “Block by block,. Madam.”

In the year 2008, with Missouri perhaps the most pivotal state in the high-stakes presidential contest between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, both parties are organizing the entire state “block by block.”

News media coverage is important, and paid advertising is essential, but what is called the “ground game” in modern politics is seen as crucial in winning a battleground state like Missouri. There is no substitute for ward and precinct organizations like both parties have assembled.

...But it is the “ground game” of the Democratic Party and the Obama-Biden campaign that is raising eyebrows this year. Not only does Barack Obama come from Chicago, where party organization is an art, but Obama began his political career as a community organizer.

Melissa Nitti, Kansas City regional press secretary for the Obama campaign, said the Obama campaign has 44 offices in the state and 150 staging areas, with 150 paid staff members. The campaign has 25,000 volunteers, Nitti said.

Nitti said the campaign also makes use of new technology, such as Facebook and text messages.

...This weekend, the final weekend of the campaign, will be about “talking to voters. Most people have made up their minds. This weekend is to remind them that this is a historic and very important election.”

Nitti said the Obama campaign in Missouri has knocked on 1.3 million doors and placed a half million phone calls.

“The reason we feel this is important is that Al Gore lost Missouri by 15 votes per precinct,” Nitti said. “We don’t want to look back on Nov. 5 and wonder what would have happened if we had knocked on 5,000 more doors. We don’t want to wonder, what if?”

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:30:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Wednesday October 29 2008 08:30:38 AM

From the Los Angeles Times:

Barack Obama on Tuesday seized on comments made by a top aide to rival John McCain about the Republican's healthcare plan, saying they amounted to a different kind of "October surprise."

"This morning, we were offered a stunning bit of straight talk . . . from his top economic advisor, who actually said that the health insurance people currently get from their employer is, and I quote, 'way better' than the healthcare they'd be getting if John McCain were president," Obama told 8,000 supporters crammed into an arena at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., and 12,000 standing outside.

The Democratic candidate was referring to comments made by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was asked on CNNMoney.com about an element of McCain's healthcare plan. McCain calls for eliminating tax breaks on employer-sponsored healthcare benefits but wants to give taxpayers healthcare tax credits -- $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families -- to buy insurance.

....Independent analysts have concluded that McCain's plan would prompt younger workers to abandon employer-sponsored plans to find less expensive coverage -- leaving employers with a pool of older, less healthy workers, potentially prompting them to drop coverage completely.

Holtz-Eakin, a senior McCain advisor, was asked about young workers fleeing employer plans. "Why would they leave?" he said. "What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit."

Obama said the remarks proved that the Republican's plan was fatally flawed.

"This is the point I've been making since Sen. McCain unveiled his plan. It took until the last seven days of this election for his campaign to finally admit the truth, but better late than never," Obama said.

...Obama rallied supporters in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, telling 9,000 people gathered in a muddy college quad that although McCain was trying to distance himself from Bush, he would expand his economic policies.

"John McCain has ridden shotgun as George Bush has driven our economy toward a cliff, and now he wants to take the wheel and step on the gas," he said. "When it comes to the issue of taxes, saying that John McCain is running for a third Bush term isn't being fair to George Bush."

..."The last thing we need is four more years of the tired, old, worn-out theory of John McCain and George Bush, a theory that says we should give more and more to billionaires and big corporations and CEOs, and hope that prosperity trickles down on everyone else," he told a crowd of 22,000.

From the Chicago Tribune:

With a week to go before the election... Barack Obama turned out thousands of supporters Tuesday despite a bone-chilling rain in suburban Philadelphia and moved on to campaign deep in Republican territory in rural Virginia.

"If we see this kind of dedication on Election Day, there is no way that we're not going to bring change to America," Obama declared, as rain poured on him and a cheering crowd of more than 9,000, many of whom had waited hours to see him.

...Obama and McCain both campaigned in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, with McCain canceling his outdoor rally in Quakertown, Pa., because of the foul weather.

Obama switched to offense later in the day with a stop in Harrisonburg, Va., in the state's historically Republican Shenandoah Valley. The last Democratic presidential candidate to campaign in Harrisonburg was Stephen Douglas in 1860. Obama plans to spend the next several days in states that voted Republican in 2004, including North Carolina, Florida and Missouri.

...In Chester, Obama denounced a news report that several Wall Street banks that were bailed out with taxpayer money have set aside billions of dollars for year-end bonuses.

"They might call that a bonus on Wall Street," Obama said, "But here in Pennsylvania, we call it an outrage—and they shouldn't be allowed to get away with it."

From the Harrisonburg Daily Record:

Sen. Barack Obama started his speech at James Madison University on Tuesday by acknowledging that it has been "awhile" since a presidential nominee campaigned in Harrisonburg.

The last Democratic nominee to visit the city was Stephen Douglas in 1860, while the last major party presidential candidate to stop by was Richard Nixon, who was vying for the Republican nomination in 1968.

"It's been quite awhile, but I am glad to be here," Obama told the packed house at JMU's Convocation Center during what was his ninth stop in Virginia since the primaries ended. "It is a testimony to the path that our country has traveled that the last time a Democrat was here was Stephen Douglas, and now the next presidential candidate is Barack Obama."

While the Illinois senator's campaign stop brought out a capacity crowd of about 8,000 to JMU's Convocation Center, thousands more, unable to get in, viewed the speech via streaming video in a nearby gym and on the soccer field.

..."In one week, you get a chance not only to make history, but, more importantly, you have a chance to come together as a nation and get us headed in the right direction again," he continued. "Will you join me in doing all you can over the next week to make that happen and elect Barack Obama as president?"

...Before starting his speech titled "One Week," which he is delivering across the nation as the campaign wraps up and Election Day approaches, Obama gave a hearty "Go Dukes." It ignited the crowd into a rousing "Duuuuukes."

..."It won't be easy ... it won't be quick, but you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country," Obama said. "I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history. I ask you to believe, not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours."

...Obama called on the crowd to keep the momentum going through Election Day and asked that they knock on doors and convince their neighbors to vote for him.

"We can't afford to slow down, sit back or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week," he said. "Not now, not when so much is at stake. ... We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does."

From the Virginia Pilot:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama told a shivering crowd of at least 20,000 people Tuesday night at Harbor Park to not “believe for a second that the election is over” and urged them to get out, knock on doors, convince neighbors and work for the “change we need.”

“If we come together, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, young, old, rich, poor, gay, straight, disabled, not disabled,” Obama said, punching out the words like he was calling attendance. “If we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of the status quo in Washington.”

Obama, after nearly two years on the campaign trail, is delivering a speech dubbed his “closing argument” and he did so to a crowd that may have heard these lines before, but seemed poised to burst with every rhetorical flourish.

...People filled the 12,000-seat ballpark’s chairs up to the highest seats, then packed themselves shoulder to shoulder down on the ballfield.

...“It’s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even pay electricity at the end of the month,” he said. “At a time like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired old worn-out theory of John McCain and George Bush that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope the prosperity trickles down to everyone else.”

...“The American story has never been about things coming easy, it’s been about rising to the moment,” he said, pausing, his voice booming, “when the moment was hard. It’s about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. It’s about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose.”

...He said the stakes are too high to play political games or to try to divide the country by class, region, or “by who we are and what we believe.”

“There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it,” he said. “There are patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies.

“The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.”

...“In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history,” Obama said. “That’s what’s at stake, that’s what we’re fighting for.”

From The Pendulum:

The Alamance County Democratic Headquarters is located in a small office in downtown Burlington, complete with makeshift cubicles and signs in the window for Democratic candidates running for positions ranging from the state legislature to the president.

Although both the county and the office space are relatively small, much is accomplished in that office. Supporters of Barack Obama have taken his lead to organize grassroots movements.

“Barack Obama was a community organizer, and that’s what we’re all doing here,” Howli Ledbetter, who works for the Alamance County for Barack Obama campaign, said at a recent College Democrats meeting. “We need to get into this campus, and we need to start at a really small level.”

...North Carolina is recognized as a swing state in this election, which means getting voters registered and mobilized is crucial. This particular campaign encouraged out-of-state students to register to vote in North Carolina.

Elon Students for Barack Obama organized several “dorm storms” as part of the registration process. In a dorm storm, participants pick one area of campus, divide the buildings amongst themselves and knock on every door in an effort to get more voters registered.

For many voters, early voting is a good option, because it allows them to skip long lines and vote at their own convenience. It’s especially appealing to students with busy schedules.

Campaign volunteers provide transportation for students from Elon’s campus to the May Memorial Library in Burlington, which is an early voting location.

“One Stop Voting” is also encouraged because it provides the opportunity to both register and vote in the same day.

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Monday October 27 2008 08:17:43 AM

From the Denver Post:

Barack Obama pushed a sanguine message to 150,000 hearty supporters in two Colorado cities Sunday, vowing that as president he'll rebuild the country's infrastructure, hoist people out of their economic hole and bridge a divided populace.

...Police said more than 100,000 lined up in Denver in the morning. About 45,000 packed the saffron-leafed Oval on the Fort Collins campus.

...With just days to go in the campaign season, Obama said McCain would carry the same economic policy to the White House as the current president.

"We know what the Bush-McCain economy looks like," he said. "... For eight years, we've seen this philosophy at work; it's put our economy on the wrong track, and we can't afford another four years to look like the last eight."

He asked spectators in both crowds to raise their hands if they make less than $250,000 a year, noting that his tax plan will benefit the middle class.

"That appears to be the majority of you," he said in Fort Collins, after almost all of the people in the screaming crowd raised their hands. Some people raised both hands.

"If you make less than a quarter million dollars a year, which includes 98 percent of small-business owners and, by the way, 99.9 percent of plumbers," he said, eliciting a roar of laughter as he poked fun at McCain campaign favorite "Joe the Plumber," "then you won't see your tax rate increase a single dime. . . . That is my commitment to you."

...Just this morning, Sen. McCain said that he and President Bush 'share a common philosophy.' That's right, Colorado. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk and owning up to the fact that he and George Bush actually have a whole lot in common."

...Julie Nosek, a 72-year-old from Longmont, said she has seen almost all of the presidents live since Herbert Hoover. She said she got a "special dispensation to miss church," so she could see Obama in Denver on Sunday morning.

...In both speeches, he emphasized that the nation will have to sacrifice in challenging times, calling for all Americans to adopt an "ethic of responsibility . . . because now more than ever, we are in this together."

"I can put more money into education, but I can't be the parent who turns off the TV set and puts away the video games to make sure the child is doing their homework," he said.

...He said he was going to employ 2 million people to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, "and if people ask how we're going to pay for this, you tell them that if we can spend $10 billion a month in Iraq, we can spend some money to rebuild the United States."

..."With the challenges and crises we face right now, we cannot be divided — not by class, not by race, not by region, not by who we are," he said. "There are no real or fake parts of this country. We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this country; we all love this country, no matter where we live, no matter where we come from."

From the Rocky Mountain News:

Sen. Barack Obama gave Denver another chapter in what could be his history-making playbook and was greeted Sunday by a massive crowd spilling out of Civic Center and up the steps of the state Capitol.

...He implored the sea of supporters not to give up until the buzzer sounds Nov. 4 and warned that the days ahead will be filled with "say-anything, do-anything politics," from "ugly" phone calls to misleading ads.

"We're going to have to work, we're going to have to struggle, we are going to have to fight every single one of those nine days to move this country to a new direction," Obama said. "We cannot let up."

...Even before Obama took the stage Sunday, a series of Democratic leaders warned the crowd not to become overconfident.

"My friends, please do not rest," said former Denver Mayor Federico Pena, a national co-chair of the Obama campaign. "Don't listen to those polls."

...After the rally with 100,000 people in St. Louis and one that drew 75,000 in Kansas City, Mo., thousands of people turned out the next day to volunteer, an Obama campaign official said during a conference call last week.

..."If you will organize with me and march with me and knock on doors with me and make phone calls with me for nine more days," he said, "then I promise you, we will not just win Denver, we will win Colorado, we'll win this election, and you and I together, we're going to change the country and change the world."

From the Greensboro News Record:

More than 1 million people have now cast a ballot in North Carolina's early voting, surpassing the total number who voted early four years ago.

Data released Sunday by the State Board of Elections shows 1,078,710 have voted at early sites.

...Early voting started Oct. 16, and counties have been increasing the number of sites since then, easing some of the hours-long lines seen in the opening days. The early balloting runs through Saturday.

The numbers clearly favor Democrats. Of the early voters, 58 percent are registered Democrats...

...Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has encouraged his supporters to vote early to ensure that as many ballots as possible are in before the crush of Election Day. On Sunday, actor Kal Penn served as Obama's surrogate on the issue, speaking to students at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, urging them all to vote early.

"It's a rare opportunity," Penn said. "I want to make sure everyone knows about it and takes advantage of it. Particularly with the schedules of college students, with classes, exams and jobs, we really need to make sure everyone knows about early voting."

The data also shows signs that Obama is drawing a historic number of black voters to the election. About 28 percent of all voters thus far are black, though they are just 21 percent of the state's population and made up only 19 percent of state's overall 2004 vote.

Another 113,000 voters have cast an absentee ballot, including 4,700 in the military and 2,179 people overseas.

From ABC WSBTV:

Eight days and counting until election day and [Georgia] voters who are trying to cast their ballots early may find some relief at local election offices. Advance voting begins Monday and that means local counties are opening up new polling locations.

Close to a million Georgia voters have already cast their ballots having taken advantage of the early voting option. But some voters, like Mark Miller and Debbie Cohen, tried early voting and the lines were just too long.

...Beginning Monday, ...Georgia voters have the option of advance voting. The main difference between advance voting and early voting is that elections officials open more polling places during advance voting and many of those will stay open until 7 p.m.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Democrats who voted early or requested an absentee ballot outnumber Republicans 2-to-1 in Franklin County, a trend that is "eye-opening, if not shocking," a national election expert said.

...Of the 29,661 Franklin County residents who cast ballots through Saturday at the early voting center at Veterans Memorial, 14,992 are registered as Democrats, 1,260 are Republicans and 13,409 are unaffiliated. Unaffiliated voters are those who haven't voted a partisan ballot in a primary, including the newly registered.

...The flood of early Democratic voters in Franklin County reflects a national trend. Democrats are dominating early voting in key battleground states, according to The New York Times.

Significantly more Democrats than Republicans have cast ballots already in Iowa, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and other Ohio cities.

...Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner predicts an 80 percent turnout, meaning 677,074 Franklin County voters might show up.

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Sunday October 26 2008 09:25:50 AM

From Bloomberg:

Democrat Barack Obama, working to win over Latino voters in New Mexico, attacked Republican John McCain's record and argued that his rival can't be trusted to overhaul the country's immigration laws.

``Senator McCain used to buck his party by fighting for immigration reform and I admired him for it. But when he was running for his party's nomination, he changed his tune,'' Obama said last night at a rally in Albuquerque. ``How can you trust him to make sure we finally solve this problem instead of using it as a wedge issue?''

...Latino community, you hold this election in your hands,'' said Obama, whose rally featured New Mexico's Bill Richardson, the country's only Hispanic governor, and comedian George Lopez. ``You could be the swing vote all across this country.''

Obama, 47, also urged residents of New Mexico to vote early.

In case you need any motivation -- Al Gore won New Mexico by 366 votes in 2000. John Kerry lost by less than 6,000 votes,'' Obama said, referring to the previous two Democratic presidential candidates. ``You taking the time to go out and vote early could make all the difference.''

...Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, pledged yesterday to protect the borders and crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers, while also ensuring illegal immigrants already in the U.S. are provided a path to citizenship.

The Democratic nominee accused McCain of not standing up to Republicans on immigration.

When it was time to write his party's platform, comprehensive immigration reform never made it in,'' Obama said. ``So you have to ask yourself: If Senator McCain won't stand up to the opponents of reform at his own convention, how is he going to stand up for it when he's president?''

From the Reno Gazette-Journal:

As the marathon presidential campaign enters its final 10 days, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama used his stump speech in Reno on Saturday to mock what he described as his opponent’s last ditch efforts to find a way to victory by flinging a raft of off-base attacks instead of focusing on ways to address critical issues facing the country.

The campaign rally before an estimated 11,000 supporters at Peccole Park in Reno was Obama’s seventh swing through the state...

...Obama accused McCain of lobbing attack after attack in the hopes something would stick.

“Then, he took it to a whole new level,” Obama said. “He said that I was like George W. Bush. You can’t make this stuff up. In what may be the strangest twist of this campaign that’s had a lot of strange twists, John McCain said I would somehow continue the Bush economic policies.”

...“A couple of weeks ago, my opponent’s campaign said that ‘if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose,’” Obama said. “So they said they’d be focusing on attacking me instead.

“I have to say, that’s one campaign promise they’ve actually kept.”

...Obama rejected McCain’s attempt to label him a socialist, saying his only tax increases would be on those who make more than $250,000 a year.

“Let me be crystal clear: If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year, which includes 98% of small business owners, including plumbers, you won’t see your taxes increase one single dime,” he said.

...“There are no real or fake parts of this country,” Obama said. “We are not separated by the pro-American and the anti-America part of this country.

The men and women from Nevada and all across America who serve on our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America. They have served the United States of America.”

From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

"In the final days of campaigns, the say-anything, do-anything politics takes over," Obama said. "The ugly phone calls, the misleading mail and TV ads, the careless, outrageous comments, all aimed at stopping change."

Speaking at the outdoor stadium at Las Vegas' Bonanza High School, Obama said Americans aren't interested in politicians' sniping in the midst of an economic crisis.

"What we need right now is a real debate about how to fix our economy and help middle class families," the Illinois senator said. "But that's not what we're getting from the other side."

Obama said his Republican rival, John McCain, was attacking him to distract from economic problems brought on by Bush administration economic policies that McCain supported.

"Senator McCain has been throwing everything he's got at us, including the kitchen sink -- all seven of those kitchen sinks," Obama said.

...John McCain has been really angry about George Bush's economic policies -- except during the primaries, when he said we've made тgreat progress economically' under George Bush," Obama said. "Or just last month, when he said that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.' "

Obama noted that on Friday, President Bush filled out a Texas absentee ballot for McCain, according to the White House.

"That's no surprise," he said. "Because when it comes to the policies that matter most to middle-class families, there's not an inch of daylight between George Bush and John McCain."

Obama promised to "grow the economy from the bottom up" so that prosperity would help "not just the folks who own the casinos but the folks who are serving in the casinos,"

...Caroline King, a retired post office worker in her 60s who lives in Henderson, proudly wore her "I Voted" sticker on her chest. She was glad to hear Obama talk about education, her No. 1 issue.

"We need to educate our kids," she said. "They've got to compete in a world our education system isn't preparing them for."

From the Suffolk News-Herald:

Long before the sun inched across the horizon Saturday morning, Stacy Newsom was standing outside Nansemond River High School.

“I’ve been here since 5 a.m.,” said Newsom, a Norfolk resident who waited in line for nearly six hours on Saturday to hear Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden speak in Suffolk.

...Newsom was one of an estimated 1,000 people from across Hampton Roads who turned out for Biden’s whirlwind stop in Suffolk around 11 a.m. Saturday. By the time the doors opened shortly after 10 a.m., the line of supporters stretched across the front of the Nansemond Parkway school.

Biden and his running mate, presidential candidate Barack Obama, have made nine visits to Virginia since the primaries. Saturday marked the first time a candidate on the presidential ticket has come to town since 1964, when Democratic vice presidential candidate Lyndon B. Johnson stumped in Suffolk, according to party officials.

...Denise Calhoun of Chesapeake and her daughter, Blakely, a Western Branch High School sophomore, said they came to witness history being made.

“I never in my life thought I’d see so many people wanting to be a part of this,” said Denise Calhoun. “It’s time for change.”

It was refreshing to see so many teenagers at the rally, she said, adding that her daughter had learned first about Biden’s appearance.

...“I see this as a new beginning,” said Rinaldi, a new volunteer for the Obama campaign. While it will be a few years before her children can vote, she believes it is important for their generation to understand the role that people need to assume in politics.

Christina Gordon, a 24-year-old teacher at Nansemond River, and Jessica Gordon, of Suffolk, said they came to the rally to support Obama and Biden.

...“He is reaching out to people,” said Christina Gordon. “We keep hearing about Joe the plumber.

“Well, what about Jessica the college student and Christina the teacher?”

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Barack Obama’s campaign, sensing a tightening race, is sending 100 volunteers from other states to rally Georgians to the polls in the final 10 days.

Caroline Adelman, a spokeswoman for the Democratic presidential nominee’s Georgia campaign, said the campaign sees an opening in Georgia.

“Volunteers from all over the country are being organized and sent our way,” she said. “Obviously, other people are watching Georgia and are pleased with what’s happening here and are sending in support.”

...Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz, a national expert on polling and campaigns, finds a consistent message in the polls.

“The only conclusion you can draw from those polls is that the race here has gotten much closer than it was a few weeks ago and that right now it looks like it’s very competitive,” Abramowitz said.

The 100 new Obama volunteers coming here will supplement an existing cadre of nearly 5,000 volunteers already trained and working here, Adelman said. They will have a singular mission: getting voters to the polls, which, in campaign parlance, is known as GOTV, for “get out the vote.”

“That’s all we do, baby, is GOTV,” Adelman said.

Since early voting began in September, nearly 1 million Georgia voters have cast ballots. Beginning Monday, additional polling places will open in most counties, giving voters more opportunities to cast ballots before Election Day on Nov. 4.

From ABC KITV:

With just 10 days to go before Election Day, Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama was back on the campaign trail in Nevada on Saturday.

His Hawaii supporters gathered at sites across the state Saturday to phone potential Obama supporters in Nevada,...

...Both the McCain and Obama campaigns are trying to lock in votes now.

"Phone banking to urge early voting pays off more and more each election. Last year, about a fourth of all Americans voted early. This year, it is expected to be a third," Coffee said.

While Obama was on the ground Saturday in Reno and Las Vegas, his supporters in Hawaii are calling Nevada by phone.

"Because of the contacts between Hawaii and Nevada, we have been making literally thousands and thousands of calls to Nevada to try to persuade the Nevada voters to vote for Barack," Obama's Hawaii Campaign Director Andy Winer said.

Campaign strategists said getting early votes secured now allows them to focus their "Get Out the Vote" efforts later on fewer people.

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Saturday October 25 2008 08:57:28 AM

From the Charleston Gazette:

"We plan on competing right to the very end in this state," Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden told a cheering crowd of about 2,000 people in downtown Charleston Friday morning.

"We have two major goals in this election: We need to restore the middle class in America," Biden said, "and we need to restore the respect for America again around the world...

"We need to do what Senator Bob Byrd has been talking about for the last six years. End this war in Iraq."

..."John McCain is now attacking the same Bush budget and policies he voted for. Until recently, he bragged about that. On Sept. 15, McCain said 'We've made great progress under the Bush administration.'...

"You can't call yourself a maverick when all you have been for the past eight years is a sidekick.

...Biden also believes Congress should "broaden the definition of national service beyond military service. If young people serve this country, if you help people in rural areas, help senior citizens or work in medical areas, we will guarantee that you go to college."

Biden praised veterans. "In West Virginia, you have 200,000 veterans, 1,500 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and 33 fallen heroes."

...Biden said an Obama-Biden administration will work to reduce foreign oil imports and cut future tax credits to major oil companies.

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. carried the Democrats' economic message into Southside Virginia yesterday, telling a crowd in Martinsville that Barack Obama will restore the middle class and the nation's standing in the world.

...Biden also derided McCain for portraying himself as an agent of change.

"I know Halloween's coming, but that's one costume that will not fit John McCain," Biden told a boisterous crowd of about 700 at Patrick Henry Community College.

...[Biden] promised that Obama will cut taxes for working people, invest in alternative energy and work to lower health-care costs.

Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware, made campaign stops yesterday in Danville and Martinsville. It was his fifth trip to the state as the vice presidential nominee.

Biden plans to campaign today in Surry County. Earlier yesterday afternoon, Biden rallied about 600 people at the Community Market in Danville.

He noted that even Bush is catching onto Obama's plan of a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

"Only John McCain and Sarah Palin are the odd people out," Biden said.

From the Washington Post:

Michelle Obama is nearing the finish line of a race that has become her quest as much as her husband's. Once, scant dozens of people filed in to meet her in small Iowa towns. She now routinely draws thousands: in Gainesville, Fla., 11,000; in Pensacola, 7,000.

On Friday, she drew overflow crowds of 2,000 people in Columbus and here while standing in for her husband as he visited his ailing grandmother in Hawaii. Speaking without notes, she traded her favored fireside voice for a more fiery one, calling out to people to vote early...

"Races are lost on thousands of votes, and there are hundreds of thousands of people who are registered who will not vote," Obama said. "Don't wait until Election Day when it's snowing. Don't wait until Election Day when you might be sick. Don't wait until Election Day when your tire might be flat. Vote now."

...The economic crisis, she said here, has become personal: "If it isn't directly happening to you," she said, "it's one moment away from directly happening to you."

As she spoke of rising food costs, shrinking job opportunities, elusive health care and the fear that the mail will bring a foreclosure notice, she created an opening to speak about her husband and his history.

...What she said was, "We're both regular folks."

"He doesn't get it in some theoretical, disconnected, philosophical way," she said, responding to critics who consider Barack Obama too cool and detached. "He gets it because he's lived it. You see, there's something that happens to folks when they grow up regular."

..."Don't we deserve a leader who knows what it's like to carry a little loan debt?" Obama asked. "Barack Obama knows it because he's lived it. Let me tell you something, Akron, Barack Obama gets it."

Before her speech, Obama dropped into the Akron campaign headquarters, where a dozen volunteers were dialing for voters. Taking a telephone from a supporter, Obama said cheerily, "How are you! You're still undecided? That's okay. What can I tell you about my husband?"

Over the next few minutes, Obama did some listening and some answering, offering a careful rationale for an Obama presidency: "We've been doing the same thing for the last eight years and it hasn't worked."

..."We're living close to the issues," she said in a soft voice, relating her own upbringing as the daughter of working-class parents who did not attend college. She mentioned her mother, retired and living on a pension; Barack Obama's sister, a teacher; and his ailing grandmother, who has long been unable to travel.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Record numbers of voters across the nation are casting ballots before election day, including high proportions of Democrats and African Americans in some of the battleground states in what appears to be a promising sign for Barack Obama.

In the 32 states that allow people to vote before Nov. 4 without a special excuse, election officials report heavy turnout as the presidential campaign reaches its frenzied last days. That's not surprising in a campaign that has received round-the-clock attention. But it also reflects the intensive efforts of campaigns competing to bank votes before election day.

In North Carolina, which hasn't gone for a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter in 1976, almost a million people have voted, and Democrats outnumber Republicans by 2 to 1.

"We're going to bust every record we've ever had," Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said of the state's early-voting participation.

...Early voting continues in many states, so the numbers can change. But Obama seems well-positioned in several Republican-leaning states that have the potential to broaden his path to the magic number of 270 electoral votes.

In North Carolina, early voting shows Obama's party in the lead. Of the 930,516 people who have voted early, 56% are Democrats and 27% Republican. Blacks account for 21% of North Carolina's registered voters but make up 28% of those who've voted early.

In Georgia, which hasn't chosen a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1992, African Americans are voting in disproportionately high numbers. Of the 967,210 people who've voted early, 35% are black, state data show. By contrast, blacks constituted only about 25% of the total that voted for president in 2004.

Iowa voted for President Bush in 2004, but the Obama campaign hopes to win the state. Early voting figures bode well for that. About 51% of the 277,909 Iowans who've voted early are Democrats, compared with 28% Republicans .

...Early voting is becoming more commonplace as states eager to relieve election day congestion offer new options to cast ballots in advance. Experts estimate that upward of 30% of all votes may be cast early this year. In comparison, 14% of the electorate voted early in the 2000 election.

...Examining the "demographic profile of early voters in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, we're seeing a larger percentage of Democrats than one might expect," said George Mason University's Michael McDonald, who specializes in voter turnout. "We're seeing a larger share of African Americans than we would expect. These points taken as a whole do tell us indeed that the people who've voted so far are more likely to be Obama supporters than McCain supporters."

In New Mexico -- another state that voted for Bush in 2004 -- Democrats account for 69% of the 55,743 people who've voted early; Republicans, 31%. Those figures do not include absentee ballots, which state officials said were not available.

Nevada's two largest counties, Clark and Washoe, favor the Democrats in early voting. Nearly 172,000 people have voted, and the turnout has been 56% Democratic and 28% Republican.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Texans went to the polls in huge numbers as Friday arrived and the first early voting week neared its end, far outpacing totals from the 2004 presidential election.

More than 1.1 million Texans cast ballots in the 15 most populous counties through Thursday, compared with 655,265 in those counties four years ago, according to figures released by the Secretary of State's Office on Friday.

Harris County — the state's largest — had gotten 208,010 ballots through mail or in-person voting, representing more than a 2-to-1 increase over 2004.

...The Secretary of State's Office said it isn't surprised by the large numbers because of heightened interest in the presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, as well as important local and legislative races.

"The convenience of early voting appears to be something that many Texans appreciate and see as an alternative to what may be long lines on Election Day," said Randall Dillard, spokesman for the state election agency.

...Texas Democratic Party spokesman Hector Nieto said high turnout is a good sign for his party. Democrats are looking for big pockets of support in Travis, Dallas and Harris Counties, Nieto said.

Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie distributed an e-mail Friday telling party activists that by the time the election arrives the party will have sent 2.7 million pieces of mail and made 1.8 million phone calls urging votes for all Democrats on the ballot.

From the Wall Street Journal:

With national and battleground-state polls giving Barack Obama a healthy lead, his campaign is redoubling efforts in Appalachia, the scene of several primary-season defeats, to see if it can finally win over the region's white, working-class voters.

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden on Friday talked about plans to create jobs and cut middle-class taxes, at a rally in Charleston, W.V., his first campaign visit to the Mountain State. "We estimate [the plan] will create 12,000 jobs here in West Virginia alone," Sen. Biden told the crowd of roughly 3,000.

Earlier this month, the Obama campaign began airing its first statewide advertisements in West Virginia, where Republican nominee John McCain has been leading in recent polls. A new TV ad called "Defend," airing throughout Appalachia, where gun rights are a big concern, touts Sen. Obama's pledge to uphold the Second Amendment.

..."We wouldn't be investing there if we didn't see a pathway to victory," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

...Tim McGhee, a 52-year-old technical analyst in Charleston, has voted Republican in the past but said Sen. Obama's response to the financial crisis has persuaded him to support the Democrat. "He's articulating his plans on the economy a lot better than McCain," Mr. McGhee said. "We just need something different."

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Friday October 24 2008 08:24:05 AM

From the Indianapolis Star:

Obama's first message to the crowd members at the American Legion Mall on Thursday was to do more than cheer: They need to vote.

"I want everybody who is able and willing to vote today. If not today, do it tomorrow," the Illinois senator told the crowd, estimated by police at more than 35,000. "The point is that you can vote now. It's easy to do. All you've got to do is go to your clerk's office or a satellite location."

...Among those at the Obama rally were Denise McGee, a 55-year-old Indianapolis Public Schools teacher, and her 15-year-old daughter, Amanda, both trying to stay warm in the chilly morning by wearing ski caps embroidered with Obama's name.

"I'm hopeful," Denise McGee said of Obama's chances of winning Indiana. "It's very close right now. I think it would be a landmark event if he did carry it, but it's still possible. What we need for Obama is to transfer all this enthusiasm into votes."

...After the rally, Obama's senior political adviser, David Axelrod, said the campaign now is focusing on states won by President Bush four years ago, including Indiana and Nevada, where Obama will campaign Saturday after a trip to Hawaii to visit his gravely ill grandmother, Madelyn Dunham.

...After Obama spoke Thursday, large "Vote Now" signs held by volunteers pointed the way to the City-County Building. A marching band led a couple of hundred people to the building.

From the Boston Globe:

Senator Barack Obama, returning to his usual economic plank yesterday, seized on John McCain's advocacy for corporate tax breaks, asserting that McCain "wants to keep on putting corporations ahead of workers."

..."Let me be crystal clear," Obama said. "If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year - which includes 98 percent of small business owners - you won't see your taxes increase one single dime."

Obama then focused on his pledge to take away tax incentives for companies that move jobs abroad, and reward businesses that add employees in the United States.

"Just yesterday, Senator McCain strongly defended the Bush policy of lavishing tax cuts on corporations that ship American jobs overseas," Obama said, referring to an interview McCain gave to CNN. "He made the peculiar argument that the best way to stop companies from shipping jobs overseas is to give more tax cuts to companies that ship jobs overseas.

"My opponent may call that 'fundamental economics,' but we know that's just another name for the Wall Street first, Main Street last economic philosophy we've had for the past eight years. And that's fundamentally wrong," he continued.

Obama also offered assurances to union members and activists in the crowd - carpenters, steelworkers, Teamsters - telling them he would look out for them in the White House.

"That's the president I want to be," he said.

The event, at the American Legion Mall in downtown Indianapolis, drew a crowd of about 35,000, sizable considering that Obama's campaign added the rally to its schedule a few days before.

From the Raleigh News & Observer:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden journeyed through North Carolina Thursday, warning of Republican efforts to divide the country and promising the Democrats would work to restore prosperity.

"Everyone talks about North Carolina being the capital of NASCAR," Biden told about 4,000 to 5,000 people at a brisk, nighttime lakeside rally at Meredith College. "Right now, our campaigns are trading paint. That means we are banging each other. What most worries me is that the McCain campaign is getting a little loose on the road out there."

..."I know how patriotic the people of North Carolina are. This is a state of 790,000 veterans. It has more than 5,300 North Carolina sons and daughters deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq," Biden said.

"There are heroes all over Amercia in every state and in every town. We all love this country.

"That is why we should be ending these scurrilous phone calls and e-mails that are going out. They lie about Barack Obama. These attacks don't hurt Barack. They are attempt to divide the country and distract us from the things that really matter."

...While Biden visited major metropolitan areas, two former governors, North Carolina's Jim Hunt and Mississippi's Ray Mabus, worked Eastern North Carolina on Thursday, hoping to persuade small-town voters to back Obama.

...In a 30-minute talk, Biden said that people were losing their homes, worrying about their retirement savings and seeing their jobs move overseas.

"For too many people, the American dream is literally receding before their eyes," Biden said.

He said a Democratic administration would place a three-month moratorium on foreclosures, cut taxes to the middle class and find ways -- such as through public service commitments -- to make sure young people could go to college.

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn - Wednesday October 22 2008 08:19:42 AM

From the Miami Herald:

"We're going to have to fight for every single one of these last 14 days," Obama told about 30,000 people who jammed Bicentennial Park in Miami on Tuesday evening. "We can't let up, Florida, and we won't."

...Obama is not ceding the working man's vote.
"[John McCain's] has decided to completely make up, just fabricate this notion that I've been attacking Joe the Plumber,'' Obama said. "I got nothing but love for Joe the Plumber; that's why I want to give him a tax cut.''

In a spontaneous exchange with the audience about the economy, Obama said, "Everyone here wants some pie -- we want to grow the pie, and then we want a slice of the pie." The crowd responded with a chant: "We want pie!"

...Earlier in the day, Obama made his economic pitch in a more subdued, wonkish environment at a Palm Beach Community College auditorium, surrounded by four Democratic governors, two nationally known executives and a small-business owner from Miami.

...Lynnette Astwood, 61, took a half-day off work so she could witness "history."

"I was active in the later part of the civil rights movement,'' said Astwood, who was wearing a "Women for Obama/Biden" button. "To be able to see this in my lifetime is wonderful."
...In a nod to South Florida's large Jewish community, Obama also made a surprise stop at the Deli Den in Hollywood, ordering smoked salmon, bagels and whitefish from the counter as well as what he called black-and-white "unity" cookies.

...Obama missed no opportunity to urge voters to hurry to the polls. At rallies in Tampa, Orlando and Miami over the past two days, volunteers wielding clipboards and leaflets directed voters to the nearest early voting locations.

Even as Obama dropped into the barbershop, he urged the owner to help get out the vote: "Anybody who comes in and sits in that chair, you tell 'em. No excuses, no excuses."

From the New York Times:

Senator Barack Obama convened an economic meeting here on Tuesday, inviting Democratic governors and supportive business leaders to amplify his plan to pass an economic stimulus package to help create jobs across America.

“The financial crisis that states, businesses and families are facing didn’t just spring up full-blown overnight,” Mr. Obama said, opening a campaign event...This has been a long time coming, and the warning signs have been very clear.”

...Mr. Obama renewed his proposal to create a tax credit for new employees hired by American companies over then next two years. He called for new jobs to be created across the country by putting people to work rebuilding and repairing roads, bridges and schools — significant elements of his economic stimulus plan that could be addressed following the election in a special session of Congress.

...Mr. Obama was surrounded by four Democratic governors, representing such important electoral states as New Mexico, Michigan, Colorado and Ohio. He was also joined by a new supporter, Paul A. Volker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, along with Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google, and a small businesswoman from Florida.

“A crisis like this calls for the best ideas, the brightest minds, the most innovative solutions from every corner of this country,” Mr. Obama said.

“These leaders need and deserve a partner in the White House, a president who understands that our prosperity doesn’t come from Wall Street or Washington, but from the hard work and ingenuity of our people.”

From the Palm Beach Post:

A round of layoffs at work has forced Lisette Janvier to haul her X-ray machine to more nursing homes each day for the same amount of pay as before the cuts.

But while her husband hunts through a flooded job market, the 26-year-old West Palm Beach woman said she's grateful just to be employed.

"A lot of people are struggling," she said. "I hope Obama gets elected and he does change things."

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday told Janvier and 1,700 others at Palm Beach Community College that he could lead the country through the economic slump gripping Florida and the rest of the nation.

"After eight years of Bush-McCain economics, the pie is shrinking," Obama said. "This economic crisis is the final verdict on their failed leadership, and it's time for something new."

Obama's jobs summit, featuring a panel of financial experts and swing-state governors, was a departure from Obama's high-energy rallies which have attracted tens of thousands to events at arenas and stadiums across the country.

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, the co-chairman of Obama's Florida campaign, said the academic discussion was "somewhat counter-intuitive" with fewer than two weeks before Election Day. But Wexler said the economic summit underscored the "seriousness of the issue."

...Surrounded by eight U.S. flags, Obama called McCain "confused" about his economic plan, adding, "I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he just hasn't read it."

...Obama's panel touched on a breadth of topics, including education, health care, taxes and the housing market.

...In response to the rapid increase of foreclosures, Obama has proposed a new tax credit for homeowners and making mortgage fraud a federal offense.

..."If we can spend $10 billion a month rebuilding Iraq, we can certainly spend some of that money right here in Florida," Obama said.

From the Denver Post:

Vice presidential hopeful Joe Biden spoke a middle-class and patriotic message to low- and middle-income voters in Colorado on Tuesday afternoon, calling for an economic overhaul and an end to negative campaigning so both sides can focus on helping Americans.

Before a largely Latino crowd at Adams City High School, Biden talked about the vitality of small businesses, accessible health insurance and his Republican opponent John McCain, who he said would run the country like President Bush.

"If it looks like a Bush, if it sounds like a Bush, if it votes like a Bush, it is a Bush economic philosophy," he said.

..."If he's really serious when he said . . . that this election is all about he economy, then I say, John, stop your ads, bring down those robo calls. If it's about the economy, argue about the economy, not about Barack Obama's character," he said to a enthusiastic crowd on its feet in Greeley.

"They hurt you, they divide the country. . . . It must stop now."

..."The American dream is becoming more distant to millions and millions of Americans, mothers and fathers who see the tables have been turned on them," Biden said. "If you work hard, if you play by the rules, if you believe in your country, there is nothing you can't do."

..."Never have I seen a time in our modern history when so many Americans have been knocked down," he said. "I promise you, America is ready. I'm ready, Barack Obama is ready. It's our time, it's America's time."

...On Tuesday, Biden acknowledged Gen. Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama over the weekend but said: "Polls and endorsements do not determine the outcome of an election — votes do."

Morning News

2008-11-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Flynn -Tuesday October 21 2008 08:14:53 AM

From the Miami Herald:

With some Florida polls showing the presidential race tightening in the final fortnight, Democratic nominee Barack Obama tried to lock down the nation's largest battleground state with a flurry of early-voting pep rallies and a coast-to-coast tour that wraps up Tuesday night in the heart of downtown Miami.

Knowing Florida's soft spot for Hillary Clinton, Obama dispatched her to the Democratic stronghold of Broward County on Monday and joined her later that day in a rare joint appearance here in Central Florida.

..."At this rate, the question isn't `Are you better off than you were four years ago?' " Obama said, in both Tampa and Orlando. "It's `Are you better off than you were four weeks ago?' "

...The Obama campaign has made no secret of its goal to send voters to the polls in droves before Nov. 4., and the visit to Florida was timed to coincide with the start of early voting. Michelle Obama will carry the early-voting pitch across North Florida this week, while Gov. Bill Richardson will hit predominantly Hispanic communities across the state.

...Citing estimates by law enforcement officials, the Obama campaign pegged the crowd in Orlando at 50,000 -- the largest at a modern-day Democratic campaign event in Florida.

..."Now is the time to close the deal for Barack Obama and close the book on eight years of failed Republican leadership," Clinton said.

From the Honolulu Advertiser:

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama will cancel his presidential campaign stops and return home to Honolulu Thursday and Friday to visit his maternal grandmother who raised him, the woman he calls "Toot," whose health has suddenly deteriorated.

Madelyn Dunham, 85, recently had to be hospitalized after a fall, and "things have taken a serious turn," said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, an Obama supporter. "It's an accumulation of several difficulties. She's faced a lot of challenges.

...Dunham has already voted for Obama through absentee balloting, "which she was very happy about," Abercrombie said. "She's very, very strong-willed. We have every confidence she's putting up a good struggle. Obviously, we wish Sen. Obama was coming back home under a little bit different circumstance. But any time in Hawai'i will strengthen his resolve."

...Obama regularly speaks about the important role that Dunham plays in his life. During an August family vacation in Honolulu, Obama told reporters that his grandmother was "sharp as a tack" but is struggling with osteoporosis that limits her mobility.

"She is somebody who helped raise me, and she's the last person of the generation ahead of me who's still living, so it means a lot to me to spend time with her," he said.

Obama grew up calling Dunham "Toot," short for "tutu," the local word for grandparent. Her osteoporosis prevented Dunham from joining Obama on the campaign trail, but she does appear in a campaign video.

From the Huntington Herald-Dispatch:

West Virginia's voter registration hit an all-time high this year as rolls grew by more than 28,600 voters since the May primary election, according to the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office.

Deputy Secretary of State Sarah Bailey said the final statewide numbers for the 2008 general election is the highest it has ever been in the state. According to the final tally, 1,212,117 voters have registered for the Nov. 4 general election, an increase of 2.36 percent from the primary. Bailey attributed some of the increased registration to the tight presidential race between Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Several recent polls have indicated that Democratic nominee Obama has closed the gap in West Virginia between himself and Republican nominee McCain. Early in the campaign, McCain was expected to win the state easily.

"There is tremendous interest and excitement with this year's presidential contest, which accounts for some increase in voter registration rates," Bailey said. "Voters appear to be very engaged."

...Numbers from the Secretary of State's Office indicate that no-party voters and the state Democrat Party had the largest increases in registration from the May primary, with increases of 10,912 and 10,071, respectively. The state Republican Party had an increase of 5,677 registered voters.

Democrats and no-party affiliates in Cabell County also grew by the largest amount since the primary, at 861 and 600, respectively.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, an informal adviser to Barack Obama for several months, is joining the Democratic nominee on the campaign trail.

Schmidt will appear today with Obama in the tightly contested state of Florida to talk about the economy. Although Schmidt announced his backing of Obama in Monday's Wall Street Journal, he has been advising the campaign on technology and clean-energy issues for most of the summer.

...Online fundraising records indicate that among Google employees, Obama is much more popular than GOP rival John McCain. McCain has enlisted former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and retired eBay CEO Meg Whitman to join him on the campaign trail. Fiorina, however, has been sidelined after suggesting none of the presidential or vice presidential nominees had enough experience to run a major corporation such as HP.

Already, Schmidt's decision to take a higher profile role in the campaign has caused a stir about his future. The Journal piece speculated that perhaps Schmidt, who joined Google as CEO in 2001, might be interested in becoming Obama's chief technology officer, a position Obama said he would create if elected.

New to the site or still undecided? Learn more about Barack Obama and his position on important

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Sunday October 19 2008 10:20:17 AM

From the Kansas City Star:

The message from Barack Obama on Saturday night might have been John McCain’s: It’s not over till it’s over.

... on a sun-splashed October day [Obama] spoke at the Liberty Memorial to a crowd estimated at perhaps 75,000 by a Kansas City parks official. Under the Arch in St. Louis, it had been even better — 80,000 to 100,000.

...“We are 17 days away from changing this country,” Obama said as the darkness of evening descended in Kansas City. “Seventeen days. But we can’t get overconfident. We can’t be cocky. This election is too important to take anything for granted.”

Obama’s message Saturday was all taxes and economy. Casting the tax debate as a “values” issue, Obama said his Republican opponent is “out of touch” for equating welfare with the Illinois senator’s plan to cut taxes for middle-class families.

“It comes down to values — in America, do we simply value wealth, or do we value the work that creates it?” Obama said in Kansas City.

“That’s right, Missouri — John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people ‘welfare.’ ”

...“The only ‘welfare’ in this campaign is John McCain’s plan to give another $200 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations.”

Among the tax cuts Obama proposes is a tax credit of as much as $500, depending on income. As part of his plan, millions of individuals and families who do not make enough money to pay income taxes would receive their cut in the form of a government check, known as a refundable tax credit.

He repeated his call for a tax cut that will impact 95 percent of all workers, listing the firefighter, the nurse, the teacher, the waitress, the janitor and “yes, the plumber.”

...The St. Louis crowd may have been his biggest since he began his run two years ago, perhaps topping the 80,000-plus who packed the football stadium in Denver to hear Obama’s acceptance speech.

His speech in Kansas City was the same as in St. Louis and was wide-ranging, even touching on child rearing and tire inflation.

But he mostly addressed the uncertain economic times.

“We can do this because we have done it before. We have parents and grandparents who have faced tougher times.”

As he has for months, he emphasized that the country cannot afford another four years like the last eight.

...“Well, Missouri, here’s what my opponent doesn’t seem to understand,” Obama said. “With the economy in turmoil and the American dream at risk, the American people don’t want to hear politicians attack each other. You want to hear about how we’re going to attack the challenges facing middle-class families every day.”

From the Miami Herlad:

An estimated 100,000 people showed up in St. Louis Saturday morning to hear Obama speak at the Gateway Arch - the largest crowd ever to hear Obama in the United States.

Saturday evening, a crowd estimated at more than 75,000 thronged the Liberty Memorial near downtown Kansas City for an Obama rally.

With just 17 days to go before the election, campaign aides said they hope to turn out comparable crowds in other battleground states.

"This is the home stretch and our primary goal is to capture the excitement and energy that's surrounded this race," said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki. To turn out large crowds, the campaign is choosing outdoor venues with virtually unlimited capacity.

Good weather - like Saturday's in Missouri - helps. Meanwhile, volunteers in dozens of Obama field offices in each of the battleground states are tapping phone and email lists to urge his supporters to turn out for the weekend rallies.

...Obama adopted new rhetoric, saying McCain's plans to continue President Bush's tax cuts amounted to corporate welfare and reflected his values.

"It comes down to values," Obama said. "In America, do we simply value wealth, or do we value the work that creates it?"

From the Associated Press:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden says he's optimistic that Barack Obama will be elected president, but he cautioned supporters on Saturday not to be too confident.

The Delaware senator noted that Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry were also well ahead in polls just weeks before Election Day in 2000 and 2004, but both lost their presidential contests to President Bush.

"We've been here before. We've been poised to win the presidential election," Biden said. "The last two times we underestimated how successful virulent attacks are."

...The vice presidential candidate warned supporters that the campaign will get "ugly" over the next 17 days, noting that Republican John McCain's campaign has started making automated telephone calls "sending in the most scurrilous stuff you've heard."

...Biden said if they're elected, he and Obama would assemble "one of the finest economic teams in the history of this country" to ensure that the United States remains a leader in the 21st century. He said "the underlying elements of this economy are in real trouble."

From ABC KSPR-TV:

"I'm counting on all of you in Missouri to break a record on November 4th, and turn this state blue," said Dr. Jill Biden.

With just more than two weeks remaining until the general election, a visit to Springfield from the wife of vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden was all about rallying the troops.

"This is a moment that comes once in a generation. This is Barrack's and Joe's moment. This is your moment. So, thank you. Thank you for all you're doing," said Biden.

Saturday dozens of democratic party volunteers gathered at Ozark Technical Community College for some last minute training and their chance to see the doctor in person.

"It's making history for my life, and I would just like to be an example for other people," said Sheila Taylor, who was among those in attendance says it's time for change.

"We are faithful and committed to doing things like going to our jobs. Well, if we don't get Obama in office, ya'll won't have no job. So, we need to stay faithful and committed to getting him in office," said Taylor.

..."We're going to make the difference in women's lives, whether it's healthcare, education, or energy policies. These are the things women care about for their families, and I think they are going to make the right choice," said Biden.

She is also the mother of a son serving in Iraq, and notes that while she supports the troops, she strongly favors ending the war.

Biden also says she is surprised the battle for the White House has also grown with so much attention on the second in command.

"It was just amazing. I mean, it was just amazing for me and Joe to be a part of this historic election. It's important for the voters too, to be a part of this historic election," said Biden.

Biden went on to say that the country can't endure four more years of the same policies, ans says she feels strongly that Americans will vote for change come November 4th.

From MSNBC:

Before his event here [in Kansas City] Saturday evening, Obama stopped by his campaign headquarters, where he surprised a group of volunteers who were phone banking.

The senator spoke to about two dozen people the volunteers reached on the phone, including an elderly woman who said she believed she may have worked with his grandmother on a bomber assembly line.

He thanked people who said they were already voting for him and spoke with one person about his health-care plan, with another about electronic medical records and told a mother with a son serving in Iraq to thank him for his service.

...As often happens, some of the callers could not quite believe it was really Obama on the phone. At one point, he sparked laughter when he said: "Well, I'm calling because we're hoping that you're gonna go to the polls and vote for me. Well, yeah I'm sure it's Barack. I've been Barack all my life."

...Before leaving, Obama encouraged the volunteers to work "tirelessly" in these final days to help him win Missouri.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Saturday October 18 2008 09:22:53 AM

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama returned to the Republican stronghold of Southwest Virginia yesterday to blast his opponent's health-care plan, saying it would force deep cuts in Medicare.

"I don't think that's right," Obama told an enthusiastic crowd of more than 8,000 at the Roanoke Civic Center. "In fact, it ain't right."

Obama said Republican nominee John McCain would reduce benefits by 20 percent and increase the costs of prescription drugs "to pay for an ill-conceived, badly thought-through health-care plan that won't provide more health care to people."

...Obama said McCain's plan would cut $882 billion from Medicare over 10 years.

...Obama's appearance yesterday was his third trip to Virginia in four weeks and his seventh since he locked up the Democratic nomination.

...Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., have stumped multiple times in Southwest Virginia, hoping to hold down GOP margins in the region.

..."I think it shows a respect for this part of the country. We're in the middle of nowhere," said [Mr.] Blacksburg resident Hope Gruszewski, who stood on the civic center floor just steps from the stage festooned with Obama pins. "Can he win? Look at us!"

...Obama was greeted by a deafening roar from damp supporters who braved cold rain for hours to get a seat.

"It was all worth it," said Kathleen Mahin, a 21-year-old James Madison University student who braved raw weather with her sister, Grace, after driving two hours to Roanoke.

"He just brings so much hope," she said. "Hope for our future."

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-9th, preceded Obama on stage. Webb, a war veteran and former Navy secretary, said Obama understands the issues important to Southwest Virginians.

"Barack Obama is like you. He knows what it's like to struggle," he said. "I trust him."

..."McCain hasn't really shown interest in Southwest Virginia," said Emma Betz, one of seven Blacksburg high school students who made the trip yesterday and has logged more than 100 hours in the region canvassing for Obama. "I think it's really important that he came."

Maxine Weeks, 66, said she was excited to see her candidate.

"It's time for a change," she said. "It's a historic moment."

Obama closed by cautioning his supporters not to grow complacent.

"We are 18 days away from changing this country," he said.

From the Boston Globe:

...Obama cites a Wall Street Journal article this month that stated McCain "would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid" to keep his plan "budget neutral." The cuts could total $1.3 trillion over 10 years, independent analysts who were quoted in the Journal estimated.

"It turns out Senator McCain would pay for part of his plan by making drastic cuts in Medicare - $882 billion worth - $882 billion in Medicare cuts to pay for an ill-conceived, badly thought through healthcare plan that wouldn't provide more healthcare to people, even as Medicare already faces a looming shortfall," Obama said at a rally yesterday in Virginia, one of the traditionally Republican states he is trying to win over on Nov. 4.

..."If you count on Medicare, it would mean fewer places to get care, and less freedom to choose your own doctors. You'll pay more for your drugs, receive fewer services, and get lower quality care," Obama said of McCain's plan. "When you've worked hard your whole life, and paid into the system, . . . you shouldn't have the carpet pulled out from under you when you least expect it and can least afford it."

Obama has been criticizing the centerpiece of McCain's plan - a $2,500 tax credit for individuals and $5,000 for families - because it would be offset by requiring workers to pay taxes on health benefits they now get tax-free from their employers.

From the Associated Press:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden accused Republicans of employing "scurrilous" campaign tactics and urged supporters not to be distracted from the economic issues affecting their lives.

Biden pointed to automated phone calls sent to voters in key swing states by Republican John McCain's campaign.

...The calls assert Obama "worked closely domestic terrorist" Ayers, though there is no evidence the Illinois senator and Ayers are close.

"The Republican campaign has stepped up its attacks," Biden told a crowd of 3,800 at an evening rally in the Las Vegas suburbs. "You may have heard about the scurrilous phone calls that are coming into homes — in Nevada and in New Mexico, where I was, and in Virginia, where I'm going — that question Barack Obama's character and my implication question his patriotism."

"They don't hurt Barack Obama. They don't hurt me. But they hurt the American people because they're an attempt to distract you from the issues that matter to your daily lives."

...At an earlier rally, in Mesilla, N.M., Biden took aim at a comment from rival Sarah Palin, in which she said she loves visiting "pro-America" parts of the country. Biden said he believed the whole country is patriotic.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have never been to a state that hasn't sent its sons and daughters to serve its country," Biden said in Mesilla as the crowd of about 2,000 booed Palin's reported comments. "It doesn't matter where you live, we all love this country. And I hope it gets through that one of the reasons why Barack (Obama) and I are running is that we know how damaging the policy of division ... has been.

"We are one nation, under God, indivisible," Biden shouted to the crowd. "We are all patriotic, we all love this country."

According to published reports, Palin told a North Carolina fundraiser Thursday that the best of America was not in Washington, D.C., but in small towns like the one in Alaska where she served as mayor.

The Delaware senator focused his remarks Friday on the working-class issues that have been the foundation of his appeal.

In Nevada, he spoke in a city park in Henderson, an older first-ring suburb of Las Vegas. The area has been roughed up by the collapse of the housing market. An impassioned and animated Biden, promised to rebuild the middle class, reform health care and put a temporary moratorium on home foreclosures.

..."Barack is going to have his hands full. But Barack is put together and, by the way, they are steady hands, you watch him," "You saw how steady he is in those debates. This is man who has equanimity. This is man who not only is really bright, but he has the temperament for the moment."

From the Los Angeles Times:

On Thursday, Miami-Dade County disclosed that Democrats had added more than 94,000 new voters to the rolls since January, compared with about 21,000 new Republicans. Democrats' gain came partly from the Obama campaign's major voter registration efforts here. The party has also made large gains statewide, though final numbers are not yet known.

Now the Obama campaign believes that it can win Florida -- and, therefore, a majority in the Electoral College -- by turning these voter registration gains into actual votes. In addition, the campaign has identified more than half a million African Americans and hundreds of thousands of young people statewide who were already registered but did not vote four years ago.

..."The demographics of Florida have lined up better for us" than in some other battleground states, said Steve Hildebrand, Obama's deputy campaign manager, referring to the campaign's outreach to African Americans, who are numerous in Miami-Dade County. "Ohio is more about persuasion. Here it's more about turnout."

In addition to Hildebrand, who is now focusing almost entirely on Miami-Dade County, the officials sent to Florida include the Obama campaign's liaison to the national Democratic Party and its senior or No. 2 outreach directors for African Americans, Jews and religious leaders.

...Obama aides have said they planned to spend $39 million to win Florida. But some Republicans think the total expenditure will far exceed that amount, given the countless Obama ads they see on television, the Obama spots that play even on country music stations -- which Republicans tend to target -- and the campaign's paid staff of nearly 400.

Hildebrand, a key architect of Obama's national field organization, arrived earlier this month and started courting key black and Cuban American leaders.

..."The substance of the conversation was that we really have to get people out to vote, that we just pack out the polls with people," said the Rev. Walter T. Richardson, pastor of the Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Friday October 17 2008 08:08:02 AM

From the Nashua Telegraph:

Speaking before more than 4,000 supporters, Sen. Obama urged them not to presume victory and reminded them that he blew a lead in the closing days of the Democratic primary here to Sen. Hillary Clinton, of New York.

"New Hampshire, we are 19 days away from changing this country," Obama said.

"For those who are getting a little cocky, I have got two words for you, New Hampshire. I learned right here from my great friend and supporter, Senator Hillary Clinton, that you cannot let up. You can't pay too much attention to the polls."

...Obama closed his speech with a forceful call for his volunteers to keep working, which was drowned out with applause.

"We have to keep fighting for every single vote. We have to keep running right through the finish line. This election is too important to take anything for granted,'' Obama said at Mack's Apples.

"It's too important to let up now.''

..."I can take three more weeks of these attacks from John McCain, but the American people can't take four more years of the failed policies and divisive attacks that he's been peddling. That is why I am running for president of the United States," Obama said.

Obama said Americans are too hungry for change in tax policy, foreign policy, health care and energy independent to be persuaded by McCain's attacks against on him.

"Now in the closing weeks, John McCain thinks he can make this campaign all about me. The truth is this campaign is all about you," Obama concluded.

From the Toledo Blade:

Earlier yesterday, Mr. Obama opened the final leg of the campaign at a New Hampshire apple farm.

"With the economy in turmoil and the American dream at risk, the American people don't want to hear politicians attack each other," Mr. Obama told cheering supporters. "You want to hear about how we're going to attack the challenges facing the middle class each and every day."

After appearances in New Hampshire and New York yesterday, the Illinois senator was headed to Virginia, Missouri, and North Carolina, states that once were assumed to be safely in the Republican column. Now they appear to be up for grabs.

He also is launching TV ads in West Virginia, which President Bush Bush won four years ago and hadn't been on the list of target states until recently, according to two Democrats with knowledge of the strategy.

From the Boston Globe:

In his first campaign rally since the final presidential debate, Senator Barack Obama yesterday accused his Republican rival of pursuing a relentless drumbeat of personal attacks instead of offering a detailed prescription for the country's economic ills.

"I think you saw a bit of the McCain attack strategy in action," Obama said of the Wednesday night debate with Senator John McCain. "But here's what Senator McCain doesn't seem to understand. With the economy in turmoil and the American dream at risk, the American people don't want to hear politicians attack each other. You want to hear about how we're going to attack the challenges facing the middle class each and every day."

..."Senator McCain said that George Bush won't be on the ballot this November," Obama told the crowd of 4,000 people. "But let's be clear: His policies will. Because in three debates and over 20 months, John McCain hasn't explained a single thing that he would do differently from George Bush when it comes to the most important economic issues we face today. Not one."

...McCain "is trying to suggest that a plumber is the guy he's fighting for," Obama said. "How many plumbers do you know making a quarter-of-a-million dollars a year?"

...Tracey O'Brien, a mother of three from Londonderry, said she did not make up her mind to support Obama until Wednesday's debate, when she heard him speak about the need to fund more services for autistic children. O'Brien said her 11-year-old son has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.

"I liked his articulation of the issue. The fact is these children require services that are very expensive," said O'Brien, a registered independent. "When McCain brought it up, he sounded like just another politician."

From the Las Vegas Sun:

Last weekend, on one of this fall’s coldest and windiest days, about half of the Democratic presidential candidate’s more than 60 campaign volunteers who gathered at Nature Discovery Park in North Las Vegas were Californians.

...California is widely viewed as an automatic win for Obama, while Nevada remains up for grabs. So left-coasters eager to try to help Obama are doing their bit here.

“As a woman it’s the choice issue,” said Stacy Courtney, a stuntwoman who admittedly never thought she’d be ringing doorbells in Nevada.

She got fired up about Obama at a rally in Los Angeles and, lacking a way to make a real difference in her neighborhood, hit the road for him. During the Saturday morning briefing, she learned that President Bush won Nevada by only 23,000 votes in 2004.

...Marjorie Gelb, a retired municipal attorney from Oakland, filled out a volunteer form and was asked to come east to use her legal expertise in monitoring early voting places. She’s flying to Las Vegas this week on her own dime and bunking at a friend’s time share. Other Bay Area lawyers in her social circle are headed to Reno.

Brian Finifter, a 25-year-old production assistant living in North Hollywood, Calif., posted an ad on a Web site looking for people to join him in his Grand Cherokee for the road trip to Las Vegas this weekend. Within days he had three new friends to help him with gas costs and to offset carbon emissions.

He has been volunteering for Obama since the primary and jumped at the chance to cross the state line for the cause.

“Immediately it struck me as something I wanted to do,” he said. “I just moved out here from the East Coast. I drove out. I love road trips so much I’ll take any excuse I can to get on the road.”

From the Detroit News:

Barack Obama's campaign held the first of several meetings intended to educate campaign volunteers and voters -- especially first-timers or those who haven't voted in years -- about their Election Day rights.

...The meeting -- featuring Democratic Ingham County Commissioner Rebecca Bahar Cook, campaign Voter Protection Director Renée Paradis and many Obama volunteers -- was designed to make sure voting goes smoothly in the face of concerns about the anticipated massive turnout.

Obama's campaign, which has signed up hundreds of thousands of new voters, plans similar meetings in Grand Rapids, Flint, Saginaw and Detroit.

"We want to make people comfortable, make them feel empowered, make sure they know their rights," said Bahar Cook.

Paradis ran through the features of Michigan's election rules: absentee voting, challenges, the right to recast a ballot when a mistake is made.

A key message: "Even if you get challenged, here in Michigan you have an absolute right to vote and to have your vote counted on the spot. The only way you lose is if you get intimidated. Stand up for your rights and your vote will be counted."

...Lansing south-side business owner Sharon Broughton attended for information she'll need as a get-out-the vote volunteer.

"There are a lot of people who have never voted until this election," Broughton said. "It can be intimidating, and they need somebody at the polls to help them."

For example, she assisted an elderly man who hadn't voted in 50 years but wants to vote in this election. After he searched among belongings stored in his cellar and found his ancient registration card, she called the clerk's office to verify that it's still valid.

East Lansing resident Tommy Isaac, 25, attended to gather information so he could sign up as a get-out-the-vote volunteer.

"I just want to help -- something, anything," he said.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:24:00.001-07:00

by Kevin Flynn -Thursday October 16 2008 08:22:45 AM

From the Boston Globe:

Meeting for a freewheeling 90-minute exchange just hours after another massive plunge in the stock market, with less than three weeks until Election Day, the two candidates clashed over whose tax plans would spur an economic recovery and create jobs, and traded accusations over whether attacks by both campaigns have been justified and relevant at a time of fiscal crisis.

The debate came to be dominated by "Joe the plumber," as the two candidates referred to Joe Wurzelbacher, an Ohioan who wanted to buy a plumbing company and confronted Obama at a weekend event near Toledo to complain that the Democrat's plan would raise his taxes and make it difficult for him to hire workers.

...Obama responded that Joe the plumber had been "watching some ads of Senator McCain's." While agreeing that he and McCain have a major difference on tax policy, Obama said his plan would not raise taxes on those earning less than $250,000. He also said that he has proposed giving business a $3,000-per-job tax credit for new hires.

From CBS News:

Republican candidate John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama slugged it out over the faltering U.S. economy, taxes, energy policy and character in their third and final presidential debate on Wednesday night.

A CBS News instant poll of uncommitted voters who viewed the debate gave the edge to Obama by a margin of 53-22 percent. Twenty-five percent said the debate was a draw. Uncommitted voters also thought Obama won the first and second debates.

Before the debate, 54 percent thought Obama shared their values. That percentage rose to 64 percent after the debate. For McCain, 52 percent thought he shared their values before the debate, and 55 percent thought so afterwards.

...Obama said what the nation hasn't seen yet is a rescue plan for the middle class. He said the top focus should be on jobs.

..."Nobody likes taxes," Obama said in an exchange early in the third and final presidential debate of a campaign nearing its end. "But ultimately we've got to pay for the core investments" necessary for the economy.

...The two men also traded charges that departed from the core issues of the economy, energy and taxes.

"One hundred percent, John, of your ads, 100 percent of them have been negative," Obama told his rival, seated only a few feet away at a round table.

...McCain is currently running all negative ads, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But he has run a number of positive ads during the campaign.

..."If I've occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people - on tax policy, on energy policy, on spending priorities - you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush," he said.

From the Boston Herald:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden today said investment in infrastructure projects would create 76,000 new jobs for the middle class in economically hard hit Ohio.

Biden said Barack Obama would spend federal money on projects to rebuild the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges, a program that would create 2 million jobs nationwide and would help alleviate the loss of 240,000 jobs in Ohio during the Bush years.

..."Everything we will propose for the economy will be targeted toward the middle class," he said of a Barack Obama administration. "When the middle class is growing, everybody benefits. That is the tide that rises all boats."

He also said McCain was trying to run from his support of President Bush’s policies.

"You can’t call yourself a maverick when all you’ve ever been is a sidekick," Biden said, crediting Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey with first using the line.

In Athens, Biden said a second economic stimulus package, which Democrats in Congress have called for, would help Ohioans afford the $3,500 that it will cost to heat the average home this winter.

He compared a tax rebate from the stimulus package to a check that Alaska residents receive each year from the state government, a stipend from the proceeds of the state’s more than $30 billion oil-rich investment account.

"If a $1000 rebate is good enough for them in Alaska, it sure as heck good enough for the people of southern Ohio," he said.

From the Toledo Blade:

The second day of Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden's bus tour rolled into Bush country yesterday...

...Back on message in a speech focusing almost entirely on the economy, the veteran Delaware senator came out swinging at John McCain's proposals.

"John has not offered a single consequential change in the policies of the last eight years," the Delaware senator told a crowd of about 850 people on the grounds of Ohio University's branch campus in Lancaster.

"He is doubling down on the failed economic policies of the last eight years," he said.

"... He still buys into the notion that if you help the very wealthy [and] help the powerful, they'll know what to do, they'll take care of us, this will trickle down."

...He also took on the McCain campaign's claim that a vote for Mr. Obama would translate into a vote for higher taxes.

"No one who's honest can deny that we're the only outfit that's going to cut taxes for 95 percent of the people," he said, noting that Barack Obama proposes raising taxes only for those earning more than $250,000 a year.

...In addition to Democrat-friendly Athens, the Biden bus rolled into Fairfield and Licking counties, both of which supported Mr. Bush with better than 62 percent of the vote four years ago.

..."Here in Ohio we are rejecting the negativity, we are rejecting the mudslinging, and we are rejecting the outlandish statements that do nothing to address our problems but are designed to divide us as a people," Gov. Ted Strickland told a crowd at Mr. Biden's last rally in a gymnasium at Ohio State University's Newark campus.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn -Thursday October 16 2008 08:22:45 AM

From the Boston Globe:

Meeting for a freewheeling 90-minute exchange just hours after another massive plunge in the stock market, with less than three weeks until Election Day, the two candidates clashed over whose tax plans would spur an economic recovery and create jobs, and traded accusations over whether attacks by both campaigns have been justified and relevant at a time of fiscal crisis.

The debate came to be dominated by "Joe the plumber," as the two candidates referred to Joe Wurzelbacher, an Ohioan who wanted to buy a plumbing company and confronted Obama at a weekend event near Toledo to complain that the Democrat's plan would raise his taxes and make it difficult for him to hire workers.

...Obama responded that Joe the plumber had been "watching some ads of Senator McCain's." While agreeing that he and McCain have a major difference on tax policy, Obama said his plan would not raise taxes on those earning less than $250,000. He also said that he has proposed giving business a $3,000-per-job tax credit for new hires.

From CBS News:

Republican candidate John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama slugged it out over the faltering U.S. economy, taxes, energy policy and character in their third and final presidential debate on Wednesday night.

A CBS News instant poll of uncommitted voters who viewed the debate gave the edge to Obama by a margin of 53-22 percent. Twenty-five percent said the debate was a draw. Uncommitted voters also thought Obama won the first and second debates.

Before the debate, 54 percent thought Obama shared their values. That percentage rose to 64 percent after the debate. For McCain, 52 percent thought he shared their values before the debate, and 55 percent thought so afterwards.

...Obama said what the nation hasn't seen yet is a rescue plan for the middle class. He said the top focus should be on jobs.

..."Nobody likes taxes," Obama said in an exchange early in the third and final presidential debate of a campaign nearing its end. "But ultimately we've got to pay for the core investments" necessary for the economy.

...The two men also traded charges that departed from the core issues of the economy, energy and taxes.

"One hundred percent, John, of your ads, 100 percent of them have been negative," Obama told his rival, seated only a few feet away at a round table.

...McCain is currently running all negative ads, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But he has run a number of positive ads during the campaign.

..."If I've occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people - on tax policy, on energy policy, on spending priorities - you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush," he said.

From the Boston Herald:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden today said investment in infrastructure projects would create 76,000 new jobs for the middle class in economically hard hit Ohio.

Biden said Barack Obama would spend federal money on projects to rebuild the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges, a program that would create 2 million jobs nationwide and would help alleviate the loss of 240,000 jobs in Ohio during the Bush years.

..."Everything we will propose for the economy will be targeted toward the middle class," he said of a Barack Obama administration. "When the middle class is growing, everybody benefits. That is the tide that rises all boats."

He also said McCain was trying to run from his support of President Bush’s policies.

"You can’t call yourself a maverick when all you’ve ever been is a sidekick," Biden said, crediting Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey with first using the line.

In Athens, Biden said a second economic stimulus package, which Democrats in Congress have called for, would help Ohioans afford the $3,500 that it will cost to heat the average home this winter.

He compared a tax rebate from the stimulus package to a check that Alaska residents receive each year from the state government, a stipend from the proceeds of the state’s more than $30 billion oil-rich investment account.

"If a $1000 rebate is good enough for them in Alaska, it sure as heck good enough for the people of southern Ohio," he said.

From the Toledo Blade:

The second day of Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden's bus tour rolled into Bush country yesterday...

...Back on message in a speech focusing almost entirely on the economy, the veteran Delaware senator came out swinging at John McCain's proposals.

"John has not offered a single consequential change in the policies of the last eight years," the Delaware senator told a crowd of about 850 people on the grounds of Ohio University's branch campus in Lancaster.

"He is doubling down on the failed economic policies of the last eight years," he said.

"... He still buys into the notion that if you help the very wealthy [and] help the powerful, they'll know what to do, they'll take care of us, this will trickle down."

...He also took on the McCain campaign's claim that a vote for Mr. Obama would translate into a vote for higher taxes.

"No one who's honest can deny that we're the only outfit that's going to cut taxes for 95 percent of the people," he said, noting that Barack Obama proposes raising taxes only for those earning more than $250,000 a year.

...In addition to Democrat-friendly Athens, the Biden bus rolled into Fairfield and Licking counties, both of which supported Mr. Bush with better than 62 percent of the vote four years ago.

..."Here in Ohio we are rejecting the negativity, we are rejecting the mudslinging, and we are rejecting the outlandish statements that do nothing to address our problems but are designed to divide us as a people," Gov. Ted Strickland told a crowd at Mr. Biden's last rally in a gymnasium at Ohio State University's Newark campus.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Monday October 13 2008 08:16:34 AM

From the Toledo Blade:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama arrived in Toledo yesterday for the start of three days of intensive preparation for Wednesday's final presidential debate, but he first made an unscheduled stop in a Springfield Township neighborhood to canvass for votes.

The candidate surprised residents of the working-class Lincoln Green neighborhood off McCord Road when his motorcade made the unannounced stop on the way in from Toledo Express Airport.

Wearing a white shirt, suit trousers, and no tie, Mr. Obama chatted, joked, hugged, posed, and debated for 45 minutes with the folks of Shrewsbury Street who came out of their homes to meet him.
...Tom Puhl, 63, a retired electrical designer, said he had made up his mind in favor of Senator Obama early. He said the neighborhood has a lot of empty, foreclosed homes.

'He came off completely genuine and that's what impresses me,' Mr. Puhl said.

In his appeal to middle-class voters, especially since the onset of the current financial meltdown, Mr. Obama has focused on the right of people to have jobs.

...He vowed to focus on bringing jobs back to Ohio and America, rebuilding and strengthening the middle class.

'Toledo is at the cutting edge of this effort, with some of the leading manufacturers of solar panels in the country, fueled by a strong research program at the University of Toledo,' he said.

Mr. Obama said America's promise includes access to a job that 'lets you live out your dreams for your family'; 'the guarantee of health care you can afford and education that helps your kids compete,' and 'if you serve in the uniform of this great country, you receive the care and benefits you deserve.'

...On the street in Springfield Township, Mr. Obama talked sports with several young men, discussed the price of gas and milk, described Congress's $700 billion economic rescue, and shook many hands. Obama chatted with Mike Klear, 36, a truck driver who hauls steel for automakers, and who told Mr. Obama he had been hard hit by skyrocketing gas prices.

Mr. Klear said he supported Hillary Clinton in her victory over Mr. Obama in the state's March 4 Democratic primary, but now he's backing Mr. Obama.

...As Mr. Obama left, he said, 'I've got to go prepare for this debate, but that was pretty good practice.'

From the Toledo Blade:

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland praised Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama last night and compared the senator's vision for America to that of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by likening the difficulties faced by the nation in the 1930s to those of today.

..."We have gone from a time when jobs were being created and unemployment was going down, when more of our people were being lifted out of poverty, when health care was being made available to more of our people, especially our children," he said. "We are finding that more of our people are losing their jobs and losing their health care, and losing their pensions and too many Ohioans and Americans are losing hope."

Mr. Strickland told the crowd of more than 350 people that he recently had read President Roosevelt's first inaugural address - a speech made famous by the phrase: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

"You look at this inaugural address and it could have been written yesterday because, as you know, FDR came to the office of the presidency at a time when our country was suffering, people were losing homes, credit was short, bankruptcies were all over the place, and it was a dark time," he said before quoting passages from the speech.

"FDR told the truth but also gave people hope, and FDR provided the leadership as I believe Barack Obama will provide leadership to get us out of the condition we are in and to move us forward," Mr. Strickland said.

The governor proclaimed: "Those are the words of FDR in 1933. They ought to be the words of our national leaders today in 2008. We must put our people to work, we must consider what is right for the common good of all of us, and I am convinced Barack Obama is the man to do that."

From the Washington Post:

"It took a Democratic president to clean up after the last President Bush; it's going to take a Democratic president to clean up after this president," Clinton said Sunday at a loud rally here, where she appeared with vice presidential nominee Biden.

...Many in the crowd wore "Hillary Sent Me" buttons, and the senator received a louder reception than did the former president. She was unsparing in her praise of both men on the Democratic ticket.

"Barack Obama and Joe Biden are for you, and that's why I am for Barack Obama and Joe Biden," Clinton said. "My friends, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment for America. We've got to work hard, and we've got to work together. This is a fight for the future, and it is a fight we must win."

Clinton said she looked forward to "being on the back lawn of the White House, on a beautiful day like this, when President Obama signs into law quality, affordable health care for you and you and you."

On that day, Biden responded, Obama will hand the signing pen to Clinton for her work on the issue. He lavishly praised the senator from New York, saying, "Hillary and I truly, truly are friends."

Biden also delivered a tough speech about his "old friend" McCain, hammering the Republican for his reaction to the financial meltdown. He reminded the audience, in what has become a standard Democratic repetition, that McCain's initial response Sept. 15 to the turmoil on Wall Street was that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy were "sound," followed several hours later by his saying that the economy was in "crisis."

Hillary Clinton is scheduled to campaign Monday in the "collar" suburbs around Philadelphia...

...[Pennsylvania] Gov. Edward G. Rendell, a strong Clinton supporter now working hard for Obama, said he believes the Democrat is in surprisingly good shape.

Obama is "doing as well in central Pennsylvania as any Democrat has done in a long time," said Rendell, who said economic worries have trumped any cultural concerns about Obama.

Democratic voter registration is up about 500,000 since 2004, and there are 1.2 million more Democrats than Republicans in the state.

The recent news has been such that Hillary Clinton felt the need to issue a warning.

"Sure, the polls show Barack and Joe ahead now, and that's good news," she said, but "nobody should be lulled into any false sense of security."

From the Los Angeles Times:

U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joe Biden made a triumphant homecoming to this hardscrabble coal-mining city Sunday, where they laid blame for the nation's worsening economic woes at the feet of the Republicans and their nominee John McCain, even as they exhorted their supporters to work hard until election day.

Making a direct appeal to the blue-collar voters who did not support Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in the state's hard-fought April primary, Clinton, Biden and former President Bill Clinton warned of continued economic hardship for the middle class if McCain captures the White House.

"All across Pennsylvania, folks are trying to figure out what all this tough economic news means for them and their families," said Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee who spent his first 10 years in this city's Green Ridge neighborhood. "For too many American families, the economy didn't start collapsing a year ago . . . it started collapsing eight years ago."

Working families, Biden told a crowd of about 6,000 at an indoor soccer complex here, were asking themselves "questions that are as simple as they are profound" -- whether they'll remain employed and be able to fill their gas tanks, and whether their homes will retain their value.

In each case, Biden argued, "McCain and [running mate] Sarah Palin and this administration have been unwilling or unable to answer."

...The Clintons will campaign in key battleground states in the three weeks before election day. After a brief speech, President Clinton left for a campaign event in Virginia.

Sen. Clinton said she had been "crisscrossing the country" to campaign for Obama and Biden.

"This election is too important to sit on the sidelines," she said. "I haven't spent 35 years fighting in the trenches . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise to our nation."

From the Portsmouth Herald News:

... only a single percentage point separated the winner from the loser in the last two presidential contests in the state.

Democrat Barack Obama's campaign has more than 100 staffers and 17 campaign offices around the state, spokeswoman Sandra Abrevaya said. The campaign also has thousands of volunteers working to get out the vote.

"The organization here on the ground since the primary has grown tremendously through the general election months," said Abrevaya. "As much attention as New Hampshire gets in the primary, the amount of resources and staff attention being invested in this state (during) the general election is unprecedented."

...The Democratic effort includes a program that asks volunteers to contact people they know within their communities. Those involved include Anita Freedman, a former Democratic National Committee member from Portsmouth.

"Most of them are people I know so I can really talk to them one-to-one," said Freedman. "If it's someone who knows me, it makes it easier than if it was a stranger."

Ellen Roy, a 57-year-old volunteer from Manchester, was among hundreds of Democratic volunteers out canvassing last weekend.

"There seems to be a lot of energy in New Hampshire, which I've never seen before," Roy said. "There are a lot of people my age who are getting involved."

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Sunday October 12 2008 09:04:24 AM

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Sen. Barack Obama criss-crossed [Philadelphia] as though he were running for mayor yesterday, nurturing what he hopes will be a massive voter turnout just over three weeks from now.

"This is a pretty good turnout," Mr. Obama said, without fear of contradiction as he gazed over a crowd estimated at 20,000 that stretched for blocks down 52nd Street in West Philadelphia. "We have just had a spectacular day today."

It was largest of four successive rallies, under brilliant blue skies, in which the Illinois Democrat drew big crowds in neighborhoods throughout a city essential to his hopes of capturing the state.

...Mr. Obama has made a significantly heavier investment in the state in grass-roots organizing and, particularly, in voter registration. When Mr. Kerry won the state four years ago, the Democrats had a voter registration edge of roughly 600,000. Now, in large measure due to the Obama candidacy, the advantage has swollen to nearly 1.2 million. But for those numbers to matter, the new voters have to show up on Nov. 4.

That was the message repeated by Gov. Ed Rendell, the former partisan of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, at each of yesterday's stops. Noting that voter turnout in the city had been 53 percent during the primary, he said, "If we do 53 percent, we're going to lose," he said. "We have to do 70 percent, 75 percent. Can you do that?

"I know these are difficult times," Mr. Obama said at another point in the speech...

"I know folks are worried. But I also know that now is not the time for fear or panic. Now is the time for resolve and steady leadership -- because I know we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. This is a nation that has faced down war and depression, great challenges and great threats."

"He hadn't been in Philly since the rally right before the primary, and we felt it was important ... for him to come to the neighborhoods," said [Rendell] the former mayor. "The buzz is out," he added. "By tonight, everyone in Germantown is going to know that Sen. Obama was in Vernon Park.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Barack Obama barnstormed the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday, telling tens of thousands of supporters that their votes and their volunteering would play a crucial role in deciding the presidency.

"If you will join with me, if you will work with me and organize with me and make phone calls with me and knock on doors with me, I promise you . . . we'll win Pennsylvania," Obama told 15,000 people at his first stop... "You and I together, we are going to change this country and we are going to change the world."

The Democratic presidential nominee made four stops in the city, highlighting the importance to his campaign of turning out votes in Philadelphia to offset Republican nominee John McCain's popularity in other parts of the state.

...So when Obama addressed 5,000 people outside the Mayfair Diner on Saturday, in a northeast neighborhood full of brick row houses with pumpkins on the stoops, he portrayed McCain as out of touch with working families.

"John doesn't really seem to get what's going on with this crisis. When it first started, he talked about how the fundamentals of the economy are strong," Obama said. "Where I come from, nothing's more fundamental than a job."

Obama touted his proposals to provide every American with access to healthcare, to cut middle-class taxes and to create "green collar" jobs. And though he praised McCain's call to tone down the vitriol that has marked recent GOP rallies, Obama urged voters not to be "bamboozled" by his opponents' talk about changing Washington.

"Change isn't just a slogan," he said. "Change is an understanding of what the American people are going through."

...He told a crowd of 20,000 in Germantown: "If we can rebuild Baghdad, we can sure as heck rebuild Philadelphia."

From the Associated Press:

The nation's best known and most powerful Democrats for nearly two decades, the former first couple ... will appear with Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, at a rally Sunday in Scranton, a working class town that has assumed something of an outsize role in the presidential race.

Biden was born in Scranton and lived there for several years as a child, while Hillary Clinton's father grew up in the town and is buried there. Both Biden and Clinton have emphasized their Scranton roots to illustrate their connection to blue collar voters.

After the rally, the Clintons will follow separate itineraries through presidential battleground states. They will also campaign on behalf of Democratic House and Senate candidates across the country.

...After the Scranton rally, the former president was headed to Richmond and Roanoke, Virginia. He also planned events in the next few days in Ohio and Nevada, battleground states he won in 1992 and again in 1996.

...Hillary Clinton also planned return visits to Ohio and Florida in the next few days and has scheduled trips to Omaha, Neb., and Minnesota.

She traveled Friday to Arkansas, her husband's home state and where she served 12 years as first lady, in hopes of making it more competitive for the Democratic ticket. A swing through Western battleground states is in the works as well.

Clinton did radio interviews this week in North Carolina, a reliably Republican state that has become a battleground in this presidential election. She also spoke to a Hispanic station in Florida and launched a women's canvass in Wisconsin Saturday by phone.

..."I think it is safe to say we have not seen more troubles at one time since World War Two," Clinton told a rally in Little Rock, Ark., Friday. "Probably no president will inherit more challenges that President Obama will, since Harry Truman had to take over from Franklin Roosevelt."

Aides said Clinton has headlined more than 50 events for Obama and has raised $10 million for his campaign since suspending her own presidential effort in June.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Saturday October 11 2008 09:10:53 AM

From the Toledo Blade:

'We have seen our share of hard times. The American story has never been about things coming easy,' Mr. Obama said. 'We remember that some of the most famous words ever spoken by an American came from a President who took office in a time of turmoil — ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'?'

...Yesterday, Mr. Obama wrapped up a two-day bus trip that took him to Dayton, Cincinnati, Portsmouth, Chillicothe, and Columbus, speaking to a total of more than 50,000.

...In his remarks, Mr. Obama seemed to allude to the attacks coming from the campaign of Republican nominee Sen. John McCain...

...'It's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division. The American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country — they're looking for someone who can lead this country,' Mr. Obama said.

...Mr. Obama unveiled what he called a 'small business rescue plan' to offer disaster-style loans through the Small Business Administration and to offer tax incentives immediately to encourage new investments.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a native of southern Ohio who previously represented the area in Congress, urged listeners not to be deceived in the heat of the campaign.

'Unfortunately, there are those who have tried to spread untruths about Barack Obama. Barack Obama is a good, Christian family man. The McCain-Palin campaign and unfortunately some of their followers would want you to be afraid of Barack Obama,' Mr. Strickland said.

Mr. Strickland also tried to assure sportsmen and hunters that Mr. Obama supports their Second Amendment right to own weapons.

After the speech in Columbus's Genoa Park, Mr. Obama paid an unannounced visit to a meeting of 700 Obama volunteers, who erupted in prolonged cheers when Mr. Obama suddenly burst into the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

In Chillicothe, Mandy MacLachlan, 30, said she wants Mr. Obama elected to 'make sure my kids have health insurance and my grandkids have health insurance. I don't want the rich to keep getting richer with no concern for the middle class.'

From the Associated Press:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Friday that Republican John McCain is trying to "take the lowest road to the highest office in America," with ads and rhetoric questioning Barack Obama's character and judgment.

"Every single false charge, every single baseless accusation is an attempt to stop you from paying attention to what is affecting your daily lives, to what is happening at your kitchen table," Biden said at a campaign rally in Springfield, a traditional Republican stronghold in the swing state of Missouri.

The nation's financial problems have been felt in Missouri, where the unemployment rate is at its highest mark in 17 years. Many of those lost jobs have been in the manufacturing sector.

Biden spoke on a sunny but windy day from a temporary stage erected in a city park near a minor league baseball stadium. The speech ended Biden's two-day swing through four Missouri cities, located in counties that supported President Bush in 2004. Springfield is the home of GOP Gov. Matt Blunt, and the southwest corner of the state has historically been Republican territory.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Obama, campaigning in Chillicothe, Ohio, unveiled a plan to temporarily provide low-interest loans to struggling businesses by using existing structures already in place through the Small Business Administration.

...Obama campaign officials said the Democratic nominee's proposal wasn't intended to be a dramatic response to collapsing credit markets or to Sen. McCain's recent housing-policy proposal. "It's just another tool in the toolbox," Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

...Sen. Obama's lending plan for small businesses was cobbled from similar legislation pending in the Senate. In late September, Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, introduced a bill that would treat the financial crisis like a federal disaster, thereby allowing the Small Business Administration to guarantee private low-interest loans to small businesses.

Like Sen. Kerry's bill, Sen. Obama's proposal would temporarily waive closing fees associated with these loans. The Kerry bill seeks $715 million in appropriations, which Sen. Kerry said would generate $25 billion in loan guarantees. Sen. Kerry's bill was shelved while Congress worked on passing the $700 billion rescue plan last week.

On Friday, the Obama campaign issued a statement..."Barack Obama supports allowing senior citizens to delay withdrawals from 401(k)s and believes we don't have to wait for Congress to act to provide seniors with these protections," spokesman Bill Burton said. He called on Sen. McCain to support Sen. Obama's small-business policies.

Dallas Salisbury, president of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a Washington nonprofit group, said Sen. McCain's retirement-account proposal would likely benefit mostly wealthy retirees who could afford to leave their stock investments untouched. He said Congress has made similar proposals in the past, but they have died because they would benefit only a narrow slice of retirees...

From the Boston Globe:

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday welcomed a plan by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to buy equity in financial institutions if necessary to halt market turmoil.

"There are many causes of this economic crisis, and it's critical that we respond using all the tools that we currently have," Obama said in a statement.

"That's why I support Secretary Paulson's latest initiative to use the authority we gave him in the financial rescue plan to provide more capital to our financial institutions so that they have money to lend to families and businesses," the Illinois Democratic senator added.

Paulson said the program aims to encourage the raising of new private capital to complement the public capital injections. It would use authority created by the $700 billion financial rescue package that Congress passed last week.

... Obama said the Paulson plan should be implemented "quickly, aggressively, and ensure that it protects taxpayers, does not reward CEOs, and is limited in duration."

The Democratic White House contender said that as market conditions evolve, the government should be ready to take further steps to boost investor confidence, such as extending guarantees.

"And the United States must step up its efforts to work with the G-7 (Group of Seven) and our other allies to ensure a globally coordinated solution," he said.

From Reuters:

White House Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Friday that U.S. policymakers have the tools they need to address the deepening financial crisis but it is crucial that they use them right away.

"What they need to do is use the tools that they've got immediately," Obama told Reuters during a stop in Columbus, Ohio to visit campaign volunteers.

"We've given them authority to capitalize the banks, we've given them the authority to buy up assets, we've given them the authority even to apply guarantees. The Fed is already using its authority on the commercial paper markets."

But Obama said more needs to be done to communicate to the markets the steps that will be carried out to address the turmoil.

"The problem is that there's been a lack of coordination, a lack of marketing of what's being done, clarity -- so that the market understands these clear signals," he said.

"My hope is over the weekend that package is being put together in a way that can really start making a difference."

The U.S. Congress last week approved a $700 billion rescue package that gives that would allow the government buy up troubled assets.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Friday October 10 2008 08:00:25 AM

From the Wall Stret Journal:

Barack Obama took his economic argument on Thursday to Ohio, a crucial swing state whose new early-voting laws might work in the Democratic candidate's favor.

...Sen. Obama's two-day bus tour through the state began at a minor-league baseball park in the working-class town of Dayton, where he blasted rival John McCain's plan for the government to bail out troubled homeowners with new mortgages as an example of the "erratic behavior" the Arizona senator would display if allowed to govern the country.

Sen. McCain's initial plan called for mortgage companies to absorb at least some of the cost of renegotiating the mortgages. But now, his campaign says the government would pick up the full tab. "Now in the course of 12 hours, he's come up with a plan that punishes taxpayers, rewards banks and won't solve our housing crisis," Sen. Obama said.

The Obama visit comes as the two campaigns make an intense final push for Ohio and its 20 electoral votes, among the largest prizes in November.

...The ground game has been altered by a new voting law: This is the first presidential-election year in which Ohio voters can cast an absentee ballot up to a month early without having an excuse.

...The ramped-up early voting, coupled with a competitive primary season for Sen. Obama, means campaign staff have been working for nearly a year registering voters and polishing turnout plans. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said 666,000 new voters have registered this year. That gives Ohio a voter-registration rate of 94%, she said, one of the highest in the country.

...Obama campaign officials say they have done more ground work in Ohio at this point than the Kerry campaign had in 2004. Over the past weekend, Mr. Baker said, Obama volunteers knocked on roughly 250,000 doors in a massive canvassing session. The same weekend in 2004, canvassers visited 100,000 houses, Mr. Baker said.

From the Boston Globe:

"We need to do what we did in the 1990s and create millions of new jobs and not lose them," [Obama] told 6,000 people in Abington, outside Philadelphia, last week. "We need to do what we did in the 1990s and make sure people's incomes are going up and not down. We need to do what a guy named Bill Clinton did in the 1990s and put people first again."

..."America can't take four more years of John McCain's George Bush policies," he said yesterday in Dayton, Ohio.

...The Clintons are scheduled to campaign together on Obama's behalf for the first time on Sunday, joining the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Senator Joe Biden, in Scranton, Pa., a blue-collar stronghold where Biden was born and where the family of Hillary Clinton's father hails from.

...In recent weeks, Obama has praised Clinton for creating millions more new jobs than Bush, helping boost family incomes, and for running budget surpluses, as opposed to the deficits that have grown under Bush.

"When Bill Clinton was in office, the average family income went up $7,500," Obama said in Green Bay, Wis. last month. "Twenty-two million jobs created. So we just have to be clear about the history." Last week in La Crosse, Wis., Obama said, "It's time to return to the fiscal responsibility and pay-as-you-go budgeting, the kind of budgeting we had in the 1990s. You remember, Bill Clinton left a surplus for George W. Bush?"

From the Associated Press:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that Republican John McCain keeps switching responses to the economic crisis and now advocates a plan for troubled mortgages that would "reward banks and lenders for their greedy behavior."

..."Now he's gone to the point of actually wanting to reward banks and lenders for their greedy behavior," Biden said. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a steady hand."

McCain has proposed to devote $300 billion — nearly half the recently enacted financial rescue package — to buying troubled mortgages at face value from financial institutions. McCain promotes it as a way to help homeowners.

But Barack Obama's running mate said the real winners would be the banks that made the bad loans.

"He's going to spend $300 billion of your money so the banks don't lose a single penny. I'm not making this up — I know it sounds like fiction — but I'm not making this up," Biden told several hundred supporters at Missouri Western State University. "That's not bailing out the homeowner, you're bailing out the bank."

...Biden's event was the first of four campaign rallies scheduled over two days in the swing state of Missouri, where recent polls have showed the race about even.

...En route to a later event at William Jewell College in Liberty, Biden detoured for some coffee, handshaking and photos at a locally owned bookstore and coffee shop.

At a nighttime rally under a pavilion at a Jefferson City park, Biden denounced McCain for "ugly inferences and unbecoming personal attacks" against Obama, without offering specifics.

From the Washington Post:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday said rival John McCain's mortgage rescue plan "punishes" taxpayers and rewards lending institutions that created the crisis...

...On a day when some conservatives also critiqued McCain's proposal, Obama used the "risky idea" as a way to describe McCain as a desperate candidate "lurching" from idea to idea as he tries to find an answer to the economic crisis that has roiled the presidential campaign.

..."His first response to the housing crisis in March was that homeowners shouldn't get any help at all," Obama told a crowd at a minor-league baseball park in Dayton, part of a two-day swing through the battleground state of Ohio.

"Then a few weeks ago, he put out a plan that basically ignored homeowners. Now, in the course of 12 hours, he's ended up with a plan that punishes taxpayers, rewards banks and won't solve our housing crisis."

..."Banks wouldn't take a loss, but taxpayers would take a loss," he [Obama] said. "It's a plan that would guarantee that you, the American taxpayers, would lose by handing over $300 billion to underwrite the kind of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street that got us into this mess."

...Speaking at an evening rally at Shawnee State University, Obama said: "Today, millions of Americans lost more of their investments and hard-earned retirement savings as the stock market took another significant plunge. Now, it is critical that the Treasury Department move as quickly as possible to implement the rescue plan that passed Congress so we can ease this credit crisis that's preventing businesses large and small from getting the loans they need. It's causing instability in our market. Understand, this is not just an issue for big businesses or banks in New York."

On Thursday, the stock market lost nearly 700 points and dropped below 9,000 for the first time in five years. Neither McCain or Palin mentioned the stock market on the campaign trail, and their campaign did not release a comment on it.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Thursday October 9 2008 08:14:16 AM

From the Washington Post:

Barack Obama delivered a reassuring economic message as [he] entered the final four weeks of the marathon presidential campaign with swings through the battleground states of the Midwest.

Obama followed Tuesday night's debate in Nashville with a rollicking rally in this normally reliably Republican state, delivering an optimistic view that the economic crisis is simply the latest challenge for a nation that has overcome worse.

"Listen here, Indiana: I'm here today to tell you that there are better days ahead," the Democrat told thousands who packed the grandstand at the wet and muddy Indiana State Fair. "I know these times are tough, and I know that many of you are anxious about the future. But this isn't a time for fear or for panic. This is a time for resolve and steady leadership."

...The country's financial crisis, and the public's current belief that Obama is better equipped to handle it, have transformed the polls in recent weeks.

Obama went after McCain for his tax policies and for not saying during the debate that health care is a "right" of all Americans. But Obama's broader message was a reprisal of the inspirational themes that were once a staple of his campaign.

"What this crisis has taught us is that at the end of the day, there is no real separation between Main Street and Wall Street," he said. "There is only the road we're traveling on as Americans -- and we will rise or fall on that journey as one nation and one people."

He added: "Look at this crowd here today: black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, young, old, rich, poor. We cannot fail, not now."

Obama told the crowd to prepare for a steady barrage of attacks from McCain, who he said cannot compete with his own message on the economy.

"I can take four more weeks of John McCain's attacks, but the American people can't take four more years of John McCain's Bush policies," he said.

From the Boston Globe:

[Senator Barack] Obama ... was better than McCain [Tuesday] night at connecting with audience members on their own terms.

When a voter asked what was in the financial bailout package for him ... Obama looked the questioner in the eye and said, "Well, Oliver, first let me tell you what's in the rescue package for you. Right now, the credit markets are frozen up and what that means, as a practical matter, is small businesses and some large businesses can't get loans. If they can't get a loan, that means they can't make payroll. If they can't make payroll, they have to shut their doors and lay people off. And if you imagine just one company trying to deal with that, now imagine a million companies all across the country."

... Unlike encounters at which both nominees stand behind lecterns, town hall debates test a candidate's ability to frame issues in ways that are meaningful to average people.

...Obama called attention to areas where he and McCain agreed, as in the first debate, citing the need to counter Russian dominance in former Soviet satellite states as an example. And he couched his criticisms of McCain and even the Bush administration in gentler terms than his rival.

When asked by moderator Tom Brokaw if healthcare was a privilege, right, or responsibility, McCain chose responsibility. Obama said it was a right.

As at many other points last night, Obama seemed more in touch with his audience.

From the Indianapolis Star:

With the economic news as gloomy as the gray skies overhead, Sen. Barack Obama promised thousands of cheering Hoosiers on Wednesday that "there are better days ahead."

Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, brought his campaign to Indianapolis the morning after debating his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, for the second time.

But for most people, that debate was overshadowed as Wall Street and the global economy teetered on the brink of disaster.

Obama -- speaking to a crowd at the grandstand at the State Fairgrounds that the state Division of Fire and Building Safety estimated at 21,000 -- said "this isn't the time for fear or panic."

But he acknowledged the anxiety that many feel.

In 1980, he noted, Ronald Reagan asked voters whether they were better off than they were four years earlier. The way things are now, Obama said, Americans wonder whether they're better off than they were four weeks ago.

...Obama argued that there is a hunger for change, and in his speech Wednesday, he laid out differences with McCain on regulation of Wall Street, their tax and health-care plans and his promises to invest in alternative energy sources, infrastructure and education.

He won one of his biggest cheers when he promised to end the Iraq war and move the $10 billion spent monthly rebuilding Iraq to rebuild the United States.

...Dennis Harney, a 62-year-old Indianapolis man in the crowd at the fairgrounds, said he wants change and thinks Obama can deliver it.

..."I think he represents change," Harney said. "I think he represents something new, and I think he represents our country moving forward together."

From the Long Island Newsday:

It would be hard to come up with two more starkly different approaches to reforming American health care than those advanced by presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama.

Obama wants to build on the existing system of employer-sponsored health care by creating and expanding government-sponsored insurance programs until everyone who wants coverage has it. He would mandate that all children be covered and that all large businesses provide coverage or pay toward public insurance plans.

...Dr. Irwin Redlener, a professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and a longtime adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who now backs the Obama plan, noted that more than 5,000 physicians have come out in support of Obama's plan.

"Doctors are traditionally very conservative and very Republican, but I think once McCain's plan came out ... that was the last straw and the tipping point for a lot of doctors," Redlener said.

...Obama says he will pay for his plan by ending the Bush tax breaks on those earning more than $250,000 and squeezing more efficiency out of the health care system.

... Overall [Obama would] Require that health insurance be provided to all children, and require all employers to offer health benefits or contribute to a new public program. Create the National Health Insurance Exchange, through which small businesses and individuals without access to other public or employer-based programs could enroll in the new public plan or in approved private plans.
... Expect to hear more on all this: Nationally, health care is now surpassed only by the economy in importance for the independent voters the candidates are wooing, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Wednesday October 8 2008 08:08:34 AM

From the Associated Press:

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain tried to rectify perceived shortcomings and played against type at key moments in Tuesday's presidential debate, but neither seemed to change a campaign dynamic that favors Obama for now.

...Obama seemed to get the better of him in a discussion of whether the United States should violate Pakistan's sovereignty if that's what it takes to kill al-Qaida terrorists such as Osama bin Laden. McCain quoted Theodore Roosevelt, who said, "Talk softly, but carry a big stick."

But Obama "likes to talk loudly," McCain said. "In fact, he said he wants to announce that he's going to attack Pakistan. Remarkable."

Obama shot back: "Nobody called for the invasion of Pakistan. ... If Pakistan is unable or unwilling to hunt down bin Laden and take him out, then we should."

He continued: "Now, Sen. McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I'm green behind the ears and, you know, I'm just spouting off, and he's somber and responsible."

McCain smiled and said, "Thank you very much." But the smile faded when Obama said: "This is the guy who sang, 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,' who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That, I don't think, is an example of speaking softly."

...On several occasions, McCain said major challenges are easy to overcome, without offering details for doing so.

...As for a huge social program with long-term financing problems, McCain said, "It's not that hard to fix Social Security."

Democrats and Republicans have to "sit down together across the table," he said. He did not suggest what they might say at that table.

Obama, meanwhile, seemed to see innovations in energy use and production as critical to economic success at home and diplomatic advances overseas.

"We're going to have to come up with alternatives," he said, with the U.S. government "working with the private sector to fund the kind of innovation that we can then export to countries like China."

"Energy is going to be key in dealing with Russia," which exports oil, Obama said. "If we can reduce our energy consumption, that reduces the amount of petrodollars that they have to make mischief around the world."

Dependency on foreign oil, he said, is "bad for our national security, because countries like Russia and Venezuela and, you know, in some cases, countries like Iran, are benefiting from higher oil prices."

...Taking issue with a description of his tax plans, Obama said, "You know, Senator McCain, I think the 'Straight Talk Express' lost a wheel on that one."

From the New York Times:

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama debated for 90 minutes on Tuesday night before a nation in economic crisis, each promising anxious Americans that he had the better plan and vision to lead the country through what both men said was the most dire financial situation since the Great Depression.

Mr. Obama placed the blame for the financial crisis on deregulation and the lack of fiscal discipline under President Bush, whom he repeatedly linked to Mr. McCain.
...“Senator McCain and I actually agree on something,” Mr. Obama said. “He said a while back that the big problem with energy is that for the last 30 years politicians in Washington haven’t done anything. What McCain doesn’t mention is he’s been there 26 of them and during that time he voted 23 times against alternative fuels.”

...The debate occurred on a day when the stock market dropped more than 500 points.

...“Fannie and Freddie were the catalyst, the match that started this forest fire,” he [McCain] said. “There were some who stood up against it. There were others who took a hike.”

Mr. Obama nodded disapprovingly.

“Now, I’ve got to correct a little bit of Senator McCain’s history, not surprisingly,” he said “Let’s, first of all, understand that the biggest problem in this whole process was the deregulation of the financial system.

“Senator McCain, as recently as March, bragged about the fact that he is a deregulator.”

From the Washington Post:

On a day when the stock market took another sharp plunge, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama clashed repeatedly here Tuesday night over the causes of the economic meltdown that has shaken the country and offered sharply contrasting prescriptions for how to restore stability.

Obama...[accused] the Republican of favoring Bush administration policies that he said had helped put the economy in dire straits. Those policies, he charged, called for less regulation and were based on the belief that by letting markets run wild, "prosperity would rain down on all of us."

"It hasn't worked out that way," he continued. "And so now we've got to take some decisive action."

...Although economic issues dominated much of the debate, some of the most pointed exchanges were over foreign policy.

...Obama accused McCain of getting his facts wrong and said it was McCain whose rhetoric was belligerent.

"This is the guy who sang, 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,' who called for the annihilation of North Korea," Obama said. "That I don't think is an example of 'speaking softly.' This is the person who, after we had -- we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, 'Next up, Baghdad.'"

...Audience member Lindsey Trella asked both candidates whether they view health care as a commodity.

Obama described the need for a "moral commitment" to providing health care and sharply criticized McCain for offering a $5,000 health-care tax credit without also explaining that he would impose new taxes on benefits. "So what one hand giveth, the other hand taketh away," he said. Citing other parts of McCain's plan, he added, "And that is fundamentally the wrong way to go."

...Obama said his plan would exempt small businesses and would provide a credit to companies for their employees' premiums.

Foreign policy occupied the last third of the debate, with the candidates clashing repeatedly on Pakistan and on their overall approaches to the use of U.S. military forces.

..."It's true, there are some things I don't understand," Obama said

..."I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 while Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us. That was Senator McCain's judgment, and it was the wrong judgment."

The two men had an extensive joust over the worsening situation on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where violence has flared in recent months; they sparred over Obama's pledge to send troops after Osama bin Laden and into al-Qaeda havens in Pakistan if necessary.

"If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act, and we will take them out," Obama said.

From Reuters:

With Americans reeling under what Obama called the worst crisis since the Great Depression, the rivals in the November 4 election differed frequently and showed occasional flashes of the rancor that marked their recent rhetoric on the campaign trail.

Two quick polls taken immediately after the debate, by CBS News and CNN, both judged Obama the winner.

...Obama said McCain and Republicans had supported the deregulation of the financial industry that led to the crisis. He said middle-class workers, not just Wall Street, needed a rescue package that would include tax cuts.

"We are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and a lot of you, I think, are worried about your jobs, your pensions, your retirement accounts," he said.

...Obama said McCain's policies would help the wealthy and strand workers at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Obama has solidified his national lead in polls and gained an edge in crucial battleground states in recent weeks as the Wall Street crisis focused attention on the economy, an area where polls show voters prefer the Illinois senator's leadership.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Monday October 6 2008 08:05:27 AM

From the Los Angeles Times:

Speaking to thousands of voters Sunday afternoon at Asheville High School, the Democratic nominee argued that McCain shares President Bush's economic philosophy.

"Sen. McCain and his operatives are gambling that they can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance," Obama said. "They'd rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up. That's what you do when you're out of touch, out of ideas and running out of time."
... In North Carolina, Obama warned that his opponents wanted to change the subject.

"His campaign has announced that they plan to, and I quote, turn the page on the discussion about our economy and spend the final weeks of this campaign launching Swift Boat-style attacks on me," he said, referring to a group known as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

..."The American people are too smart for that," Obama said Sunday. "On Nov. 4 you and I are going to turn the page, not on talking about the economy; we're going to the turn the page on the disastrous economic policies of George W. Bush and John McCain."

...Obama arrived in this town Saturday night to prepare for his debate with McCain in Nashville on Tuesday night.

From the Blude Ridge Times-News:

A roar went up from the overflow crowd as Obama came down the steps leading into the stadium, greeting people as he made his way up to the stage.

“I can tell this is God’s country as I look at this day that the Lord has made,” he said. “What a spectacular place to be in Asheville, North Carolina.”

North Carolina is a battleground state for Obama as he took the opportunity at the rally to give support to another Democratic candidate, State Sen. Kay Hagan, who is running for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

The economy was a focus of Obama’s remarks to the crowd as he noted the issue and its effect on everyday people.

“We are facing the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression,” he said. “You’ve seen your incomes go down as the price of just about everything has gone up.”

He added that everyday Americans don’t have to be told through ads or newspaper articles about the current economic problems because “you’re living them.”

...“We don’t need another president who doesn’t get it,” Obama said.

...Obama outlined his plan for making health care more accessible to Americans by reducing prescription drug prices; focusing on preventative programs such as smoking cessation and weight loss programs; reducing waste and inefficiency by using technology to reduce paperwork; and having the government pick up the tab for some of the more catastrophic illnesses. Under his plan, Obama said people can still use the health care plan they have, still visit the doctor they wish to see, or if they want to change their health care plan, they can do that as well. He said “the only difference is, costs will go down.”

He added that he would cover the costs of the $65 billion per year program by “ending George Bush’s tax breaks on those making a quarter of a million dollars a year.”

Obama said that under his plan, people would not be turned away if they had a pre-existing condition and promised that health care would be accessible for all by the end of his first term in office. “This is one of the great moral crises of our time,” Obama said. “It’s not who we are.”

...Canton resident Josh Batenhorst, a teacher at ArtSpace, a charter school in Swannanoa, said he was glad to see the “groundswell of support” for Obama in North Carolina.

“His stance on education and his plan to cut taxes for the middle class are what I like about him,” Batenhorst said, adding that Obama is the “first person I’ve ever donated money to before. I used to think there was no difference between a Democrat and a Republican, but this year, I do.”

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., told a Henrico County audience yesterday that Sen. Barack Obama is best equipped to correct the abuses that led to the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

"Who do you think is going to do a better job of protecting the taxpayer, putting into place the reforms, the regulation, the oversight to make sure this never happens again?" Bayh asked a crowd of 150 in an outdoor plaza at J.R. Tucker High School.

Bayh said Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, "wants to deregulate health care so the same thing can happen to health care that happened to the financial markets."

Bayh filled in for Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Early in his 15-minute stump speech, Bayh said he had just learned that Bonny Jean Jacobs, the mother of Biden's wife, Jill, had died.

"I know them well enough . . . to know that what they would want to say is that they appreciate your thoughts and prayers, but they want us to stay focused on doing right by our state and [by] this country," he said...

From the Washington Post:

As the deadline for voter registration arrives today in many states, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is poised to benefit from a wave of newcomers to the rolls in key states in numbers that far outweigh any gains made by Republicans.

In the past year, the rolls have expanded by about 4 million voters in a dozen key states -- 11 Obama targets that were carried by George W. Bush in 2004 (Ohio, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico) plus Pennsylvania, the largest state carried by Sen. John F. Kerry that Sen. John McCain is targeting.

In Florida, Democratic registration gains this year are more than double those made by Republicans; in Colorado and Nevada the ratio is 4 to 1, and in North Carolina it is 6 to 1. Even in states with nonpartisan registration, the trend is clear -- of the 310,000 new voters in Virginia, a disproportionate share live in Democratic strongholds.

...The Obama campaign says it expects the numbers of new voters in swing states to swell even more later this month as elections offices process the tens of thousands of registrations still pouring in. And it exudes confidence about its ability to turn the new voters out with a vigorous follow-up operation. "This a lesson we learned. The old-fashioned way of registering voters was to stand on the corner of the street, stand on the campus quad and register one by one, which we still do," said Jon Carson, the campaign's national field director. "But another important component is getting people the information they need to participate."

Obama, who led a major voter drive in Chicago in 1992, has stressed voter registration from the outset of his campaign, seeing younger or disaffected Americans as a crucial pool of support. The campaign intensified its outreach over the summer, dispatching hundreds of staff members and volunteers to states with large percentages of unregistered voters.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Sunday October 5 2008 09:46:25 AM

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

An estimated 18,000 people crammed into a riverfront park yesterday to hear Sen. Barack Obama say he would fix an American health-care system that tends to work against those who need it most.

Obama, placing a new focus on health care amid the nation's economic turmoil, dismissed Sen. John McCain's plan as narrow, financially burdensome and more helpful to insurance companies than to the insured.

"I'm not saying [McCain] doesn't care what people are going through," Obama told an enthusiastic crowd at Victory Landing Park. "I'm saying he doesn't know."

Obama devoted more than 10 minutes of his speech to criticizing McCain's health-care plan, which would provide each family with a $5,000 tax credit and deregulate the insurance market in an effort to drive costs down through competition.

Obama said McCain's plan would take back its tax savings by taxing health-care benefits -- "an old Washington bait-and-switch."

...On Tuesday, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, will headline a news conference at the state Capitol to talk about how McCain's health-care plan would affect Virginia.

In Newport News yesterday, Obama said his mother died of ovarian cancer in a hospital bed while fighting with an insurance company that refused to pay for her treatments, saying she had a pre-existing condition. Health-care reform, he said, "isn't political to me -- it's personal."

...Hundreds of people queued up before dawn for the midday event. Volunteers moved through the crowd registering new voters ahead of Monday's 5 p.m. deadline.

...Obama promised to confront drug companies about unfairly high prices and insurance companies about "discriminating" against people with cancer and other catastrophic illnesses. He said his health-care plan would help small businesses pay for costly treatments.

He said he would finance his plan by modernizing an old and ineffective health-records system and by ending some of the tax cuts for wealthy people that were pushed by President Bush.

Obama said deregulating the insurance market is as bad an idea as bank deregulation, which led to the current economic crisis.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Obama painted his opponent's health-care plan as "radical" and said the free-market approach would lead to at least 20 million Americans losing the insurance they rely on from their employer.

... Sen. Obama spent Saturday ripping apart his opponent's health-care plan. Sen. McCain's plan would provide a $2,500 per person or $5,000 per family refundable tax credit to find coverage. In exchange, employees would pay income taxes on the value of health insurance as part of their compensation.

"He tells you that he'll give you a tax credit of $2,500 per person – $5,000 per family – to help you pay for your insurance and health care costs," Sen. Obama said at a waterfront rally of 18,000 here on Saturday. "But like those ads for prescription drugs, you have to read the fine print to learn the rest of the story."

... "You see, Senator McCain would pay for his plan, in part, by taxing your health care benefits for the first time in history," Sen. Obama said. "I reject the radical idea that government has no role to play in protecting ordinary Americans.

... The deadline to register to vote in many battleground states including Virginia is Monday, a crucial deadline for Sen. Obama who is largely staking his campaign on its ability to bring in new voters.

From the Associated Press:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday called Republican presidential candidate John McCain not a maverick but a "mimic" of President Bush.

Clinton made the remarks at a Human Rights Campaign dinner, where she was filling in for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's running mate, Joe Biden. Biden canceled his weekend campaign events because his wife's mother is ill. Clinton spoke by satellite from Los Angeles to a few thousand people who attended the national gay rights group event.

Clinton said Biden called and asked her to fill in for him because of the family emergency. Rather than sharing her thoughts, she said, "I want to share with you the eloquent remarks that Joe had prepared."

Clinton sought to tie McCain to Bush, saying the Arizona senator offered voters "more of the same."

"He's not a maverick. He's a mimic," she said.

She noted that McCain doesn't support extending job discrimination and hate-crimes laws to cover sexual orientation and supports the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

...She said Saturday that Americans can choose in the November election whether the nation takes steps toward "securing equality and dignity for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."

"Or we can choose four more years of the same failed policies, four more years of the same small-minded governance, four more years that look just like the last eight," she added.

From the Boston Globe:

Last week, as the economy slipped further toward recession, the momentum seemed to be shifting in places such as Nevada, a swing state that went for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 and has been seen as promising turf for Senator John McCain for months. With the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, a tourism industry damaged by rising food and energy prices, and an unemployment rate at a 23-year high, Nevada is, according to polls, edging Obama's way. The Real Clear Politics average of national polls showed the Illinois senator up by 1.8 percent.

In interviews around the Reno area last week ...voter after voter said that in this economy, they were willing to give [Senator Obama] the benefit of the doubt.

"He's younger, he's more in tune with what's going on in America, he's got young kids," said Darcie Arnold, a 53-year-old lifelong Republican who recently switched her party registration to Democrat.

The race in Nevada seems destined to be close. Thanks to exponential population growth, this land of desert, mountains, and blinking casino strips has become politically unpredictable in the last generation. Bill Clinton won here twice, before the two narrow Bush wins this decade.

... A combination of rapid growth and aggressive voter registration efforts has resulted in Democrats turning a disadvantage of 3,000 registered voters in 2004 to an advantage of 80,000 voters this year. Obama has been campaigning here aggressively since the January caucuses.

... The pain is being felt across the economy. At her pet-grooming shop in Sparks, Kari Williams, 33, has helped find homes for some 30 dogs belonging to clients who could no longer afford to care for their animals. Business has slowed, and after five prosperous years, she has fallen behind on her commercial rent.

... Williams, an undeclared voter, is leaning in favor of Obama, partly because she considers Palin unqualified, and partly because she thinks McCain is too friendly to big business.

"Obama at least knows what it's like to be a normal person - he grew up that way," she said. "I don't think McCain knows how the rest of us live."

... Ron Berry, a 62-year-old retired health inspector, cashed out on his home in Northern California a few years ago and bought a large home east of Reno. But his fledgling concession business isn't prospering in Nevada. He wants to go back, but he cannot sell his house.

Berry despises the "culture of greed" in the mortgage and banking industry that led to the suffering around him. He worries that "the fat cats" will emerge unscathed, while "the common person gets the bill."

"Yeah, I'm scared," he said.

Berry is a Democrat, but he voted for Ronald Reagan twice, and he says he would be tempted to back McCain this time. A Vietnam veteran, he feels a deep kinship with other veterans. He was actually serving on the USS Oriskany on the day McCain took off from the vessel on his last, near-fatal mission. But he plans to vote for Obama.

"I love McCain, but I can't take a chance," he said. "I want change."

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Saturday October 4 2008 09:10:00 AM

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

At a rally in Montgomery County, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said yesterday that the September unemployment report, showing the nation losing 159,000 jobs, was added proof that America needs new economic leadership.

Speaking to a crowd of 6,000 at Abington High School's football stadium, Obama accused Republican John McCain of favoring the same economic policies that have produced the rise in unemployment this year.

And Obama disputed the assertion made by Sarah Palin during the vice presidential debate that his own economic plans would kill jobs.

"When Sen. McCain and his running mate talk about job killing, that's something they know a thing or two about," he said. "Because the policies they're supporting are killing jobs every single day. . . . Enough is enough."

... In talking about the causes of the nation's financial woes, Obama laid much of the blame on "a philosophy that views even the most common-sense regulations as unwise and unnecessary." His Republican opponent, he said, has embraced that philosophy.

"He hasn't been getting tough on CEOs," Obama said of McCain. "He hasn't been getting tough on Wall Street. Suddenly a crisis comes and the polls change and suddenly, he's out there talking like Jesse Jackson."

...After the rally in Abington, Obama made a brief stop at Penny's Flowers in Glenside, with camera crews and reporters in tow.

Yesterday was the candidate's 16th wedding anniversary, and he wanted something to take his wife, Michelle, with whom he planned a celebration dinner in Chicago last night.

From CNN:

...Barack Obama weighed in Friday on the passage of the economic bailout bill, which was signed into law by President Bush

"This is not a moment for celebration, but a sobering day when we found out that three-quarters of a million jobs were lost just this year. Passing this rescue plan cannot be the end of our work to strengthen our economy -- it must be the beginning," Obama said in a statement.

"America is facing one of the greatest financial crises in history, and today's passage of an emergency rescue plan was absolutely necessary to prevent an economic catastrophe that could have cost millions of jobs and forced businesses across the country into bankruptcy," he added.

...Earlier Friday, Obama and McCain released statements reacting to a jobs report that paints a dismal outlook for American workers. It shows that employers cut 159,000 jobs in September -- the biggest decline in five years.

"Just since January, we've lost more than 750,000 jobs across America, 7,000 in Pennsylvania alone," Obama said at a rally in Arlington, Pennsylvania. "This is the economy that John McCain said -- just two weeks ago -- was fundamentally strong.

"This is the economy that my opponent said made great progress under the policies of George W. Bush. And those are the economic policies that he proposes to continue for another four years."

From the Los Angeles Times:

Hillary Rodham Clinton met Friday with some of her most devoted supporters in Los Angeles to urge them to back former rival Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

...She also asked them to campaign for Democrats who are running for Congress.

"I mostly wanted to come to say thank you and to encourage you to do everything you can between now and election day to register voters, to make sure everybody knows what's at stake in this election and then to help turn everybody out," Clinton told the crowd. "I just have a feeling this is going to be a great Democratic year."

...In a brief news conference after her speech, Clinton brushed off questions about whether some supporters, still bitter from her loss to Obama, might vote for the Republican nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

"I think that people who supported me have much more in common with Sen. Obama and his agenda than with Sen. McCain," she said.

..."As the real stakes of the election become clearer, you're going to see Obama gain across the country," Clinton said. "As more and more people look at what is being offered, I'm just really confident that we're going to win."

Clinton will speak tonight at an "Angelenos Go Green for Obama" fundraiser in downtown Los Angeles at the Edison, a power-plant-turned-swanky-lounge.

Organizers say the event, powered by biodiesel generators and featuring compostable plates and flatware, will be the first zero-waste and carbon-neutral political fundraiser.

...In the months since she dropped out, she has actively campaigned for Obama.

In her speech Friday, she talked up her latest initiative, which aims to convert her supporters into a pro-Obama network called Hillary Sent Me!

The program, organized by Clinton's political action committee, HillPac, in conjunction with the Obama campaign, mobilizes volunteers to travel to battleground states to help Democrats with their grass-roots organizing.

This weekend, it urged volunteers to travel to Ohio -- a key swing state -- to canvass for Obama.

The weekend after that, it will push volunteers to work in Pennsylvania.

Many Clintonites at Friday's event said they were busy organizing for Obama. Barbara Douglass, 86, the president of the Democratic Women's Study Club in Long Beach, said her organization was making phone calls for Obama.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Friday October 3 2008 09:17:08 AM

From the New York Times:

Mr. Biden, a six-term senator who has twice sought the presidency, remained forceful and composed against an opponent who proved difficult to attack, given that she is a newcomer and a woman in an arena long dominated by men.
...Mr. Biden, standing at a lectern a few feet from Ms. Palin’s, replied with one of his characteristic strategies in the debate: portraying Mr. McCain as unaware or unmoved by voters’ problems and as an ally of the deeply unpopular President Bush.

“It was two Mondays ago John McCain said at 9 o’clock in the morning that the fundamentals of the economy were strong,” Mr. Biden said. “Eleven o’clock that same day, two Mondays ago, John McCain said that we have an economic crisis. That doesn’t make John McCain a bad guy, but it does point out he’s out of touch. Those folks on the sidelines knew that two months ago.”

...Ms. Palin also tended to seize on a single point or phrase of Mr. Biden or the moderator, Gwen Ifillof PBS, and veer off on her own direction in her 90-second answer.

...In response to a question about her views on an exit strategy in Iraq, Ms. Palin championed Mr. McCain’s support for the “surge” of American troops there; hailed “a great American hero,” Gen. David H. Petraeus;

...After that, Mr. Biden turned to the moderator and said, “Gwen, with all due respect, I didn’t hear a plan.”

...“The issue is how different is John McCain’s policy going to be than George Bush’s,” Mr. Biden said. “I haven’t heard how his policy is going to be different on Iran than George Bush’s.... I haven’t heard how his policy in Afghanistan is going to be different than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy in Pakistan is going to be different than George Bush’s.

“It may be, but so far it is the same as George Bush’s.”

Mr. Biden also turned tougher in the final half-hour after Ms. Palin had, several times, referred to Mr. McCain as a “maverick.”

“He’s not been a maverick when it comes to education — he has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college,” Mr. Biden said. “He’s not been a maverick on the war. He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that generally affects the things that people really talk about.”

From the Washington Post:

The two candidates repeated their campaign slogans on taxes. Palin accused Obama of voting to support tax increases 94 times, a claim that Biden forcefully rejected as false.

... "The charge is absolutely not true. Barack Obama did not vote to raise taxes," Biden responded. "Using the standard that the governor uses, John McCain voted 477 times to raise taxes. It's a bogus standard."

On health care, Palin said Americans would not want it "taken over by the feds," while Biden accused McCain of trying to fool the public with a tax credit for health-care insurance that would become more expensive because of the Republican's policies.

"So you're going to have to place -- replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company," Biden said. "I call that the ultimate bridge to nowhere."

Palin, who governs the nation's largest oil-producing state, was aggressive on energy, calling opposition to expanded drilling a "nonsensical position" and saying that "people are so hungry for those domestic sources of energy to be tapped into."

Biden blasted McCain on the issue, saying: "John McCain has voted 20 times against funding alternative energy sources and thinks, I guess, the only answer is drill, drill, drill. Drill we must, but it will take 10 years for one drop of oil to come out of any of the wells that are going to begun to be drilled."

From the Toledo Blade:

Barack Obama hammered away at "greed" and "irresponsibilty" that he said were part of a philosophy embraced by his opponent during a rally on the campus of Michigan State University yesterday, even as his opponent was pulling most of his campaign organization out of the state.

..."What this crisis has taught us is that at the end of the day, there is no separation between Main Street and Wall Street. When there's greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street, that affects Main Street. When Main Street is suffering, the pain trickles up," Mr. Obama said.

"This country and the dream it represents are being tested in a way that we haven't seen in nearly a century," Mr. Obama said. He said future generations will either say America lost its nerve, or that "this was another one of those moments when America overcame."

He said the rescue plan up for a possible vote in the House of Representatives today is the "beginning of a long-term rescue plan for our middle class."

...He urged the crowds to register and then help him win Michigan, which has 17 electoral votes.

... Mr. Obama promised that as president he would cut taxes - repeating himself for emphasis - on "95 percent of all working families."

"If you make less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increase one single dime," he said.

He also said he would eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups.

He said Mr. McCain is offering "$200 billion in tax cuts for big corporations" and a $700,000 tax cut to "the average Fortune 500 CEO."

..."I'm running for President to make sure the cars of the future are made in the same place they've always been made - right here in Michigan," Mr. Obama said.

From the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger:

"You can't get mad at what goes on in this country if you don't use that right and have your say," [said Anna Mauldin, 21, a Mississippi College senior].

But you can't have your say in the Nov. 4 election if you don't register. And if you haven't registered, you have until 5 p.m. today or noon Saturday to do so, depending on where you live.

Saturday is the official deadline, but that won't matter if courthouses are closed, as usual, on the weekend.

... "We have pushed for successful voter registration drives statewide in more than 17 cities for two weekends in a row," said Melanie Roussell, Southern Regional communications director for Obama.

"We have had tremendous success registering students all across the state, at Jackson State, Mississippi State University, Ole Miss and other schools."

.... During four assemblies held Thursday, the nonpartisan, voter education group [Vote For Your Life] urged 18-year-old high school seniors to register; teams of young volunteers are visiting four more schools today, Horhn said.

"Historically, there has been a lot of apathy among voters, particularly among young people.

"But this election is quite different. We're either going to have our first female vice president or the first African-American president," he said referring to Republican VP nominee Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, and the Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

"There's also a feeling that this country is on the precipice of a lot of important decision-making. These young people want to be a part of that."

That's the case with first-time voters Kenesha Phillips of Little Rock, Ark., and Kellie Harvey Grizzell of Clinton, two18-year-old Jackson State University freshmen.

"In order to bring change, you must vote," Phillips said.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Wednesday October 1 2008 08:37:12 AM

From the Washington Post:

"We must act and we must act now," Obama told thousands at the University of Nevada at Reno. "We cannot have another day like yesterday. We cannot risk another week or another month where American businesses are afraid to extend credit and lend money."

"For the rest of today and as long as it takes, I'll continue to reach out to leaders in both parties and do whatever I can," Obama said. "To the Democrats and Republicans who opposed this plan yesterday, I say -- step up to the plate and do what's right for this country."

Both Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, will appear for a vote on the rescue package, according to aides. And Obama planned to appear in interviews on all three major networks to press for the bill's passage as well.

..."If this is executed the right way," Obama said, "then the government will temporarily purchase the bad assets of our financial institutions so that they can start lending again, and then sell those troubled assets once the markets settle down and the economy recovers."

...He added: "If all that meant was the failure of a few big banks on Wall Street, that'd be one thing. But that's not what it means. What it means is that if we don't act, it will be harder for you to get a mortgage for your home.... Thousands of businesses could close around the country. Millions of jobs could be lost. A long and painful recession could follow."

Obama used the speech to blast GOP efforts to deregulate the market, but at the same time said, "This is one of those defining moments when the American people are looking to Washington for leadership. It is not a time for politics." He invoked Franklin D. Roosevelt's "fireside chats" during the Great Depression as a reminder of how Americans could come together in hard times with the right leadership.

"There is plenty of blame to go around -- and many in Washington and Wall Street deserve it," Obama said, adding: "All of us now have a responsibility to solve this crisis because it affects the financial well-being of every single American. There will be time to punish those who set this fire. But now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out."

From Reuters:

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama urged lawmakers on Tuesday to return to the negotiating table to work on a financial rescue deal and offered a new proposal he said could help attract support.

The Democratic White House contender suggested raising the limit on bank deposits guaranteed by the federal government to $250,000 from its current level of $100,000.

"One step we could take to potentially broaden support for the legislation and shore up our economy would be to expand federal deposit insurance for families and small businesses across America who have invested their money in our banks," Obama said in a written statement.

...Obama, an Illinois senator... said a failure by Congress to come together on a plan "would be catastrophic for our economy and our families."

"At this moment, when the jobs, retirement savings, and economic security of all Americans hang in the balance, it is imperative that all of us -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- come together to meet this crisis," Obama said.

The rescue package that was rejected was worked out in marathon weekend talks among White House officials and Republican and Democratic negotiators. It would have allowed the government to buy up bad debt from troubled Wall Street firms and banks.

..."I will be talking to leaders and members of Congress later today to offer this idea and urge them to act without delay to pass a rescue plan," he said.

From the Las Vegas Sun:

Their home values have been plummeting for months and 401(k) plans got gutted Monday (though the market rebounded slightly Tuesday), so it’s understandable that the 12,000 people who turned out Tuesday to hear presidential candidate Barack Obama had a big case of economic anxiety.

...“Sen. Obama gives us hope ... These are terrible times for Americans,” said Erica Spaight, 32, whose house is on the market for $80,000 less than she bought it for two years ago, with the help of an adjustable-rate mortgage.

The agreement that failed in the House of Representatives on Monday, sending stocks tumbling, should be strengthened, with more safeguards for taxpayers, and passed by Congress, he [Obama] said.

“I don’t pretend this is going to be easy. It’s going to be hard. We will all need to sacrifice,” he said.

...Explaining why the bailout was needed, he pointed to pension funds and retirement investments tied to the stock market, and small businesses that need access to credit to meet payroll.

“What this crisis has taught us is that at the end of the day, there is no real separation between Main Street and Wall Street.”

...Betty Manson, 62, of Sparks, appreciated that Obama had talked about the economy instead of delivering a soaring political speech.

“I think we would have been angry if he didn’t talk about the economy,” she said.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The two presidential candidates embraced proposals to boost federal deposit insurance, as their campaigns looked for political advantage after the rejection of the financial rescue plan.

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain said they support raising the cap on deposits protected by federal insurance to $250,000 from the current $100,000. They argued that adding more depositor protections to the bank rescue bill might help resurrect the legislation that was turned down Monday in a House vote.

...Sen. Obama, campaigning in Nevada, quoted Franklin D. Roosevelt's call for Americans to "unite in banishing fear." Sen. Obama also for the first time fully endorsed the rescue package, calling its passage "imperative." The current market turmoil "is no longer just a Wall Street crisis," he said, but "an American crisis." Sen. Obama said he would reach out to leaders in both parties to help secure a plan.

...The Obama campaign raised the issue first Tuesday with an emailed statement that called for including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposal in the bank rescue bill.

About four hours later, the McCain campaign released its statement, saying Sen. McCain had discussed the issue with President George W. Bush.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Monday September 29 2008 08:14:54 AM

From the Associated Press:

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain on Sunday gingerly embraced a newly negotiated congressional deal for a $700 billion bailout of the hobbled financial industry.

...Obama said he was inclined to back "because I think Main Street is now at stake."

..."Here are the facts: For two weeks I was on the phone everyday with (Treasury) Secretary (Henry) Paulson and the congressional leaders making sure that the principles that have been ultimately adopted were incorporated in the bill," Obama said in an interview on "Face the Nation" on CBS.

...The measure would allow the government to buy defaulted mortgages and other distressed housing-related assets, many of them held by Wall Street banks, in an effort to keep the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression from spreading throughout the entire economy.

Obama predicted quick passage of the measure, which he said contained important consumer-friendly provisions he had supported. "Today, thanks to the hard work of Democrats and Republicans, it looks like we have a rescue plan that includes these taxpayer protections," Obama said in remarks prepared for a Detroit rally. "And it looks like we will pass that plan very soon."

...The $634 billion measure passed the Senate on Saturday. It also includes $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans for automakers.

Obama said in his television interview that he was inclined to support the bailout because it includes increased oversight, relief for homeowners facing foreclosure and limits on executive compensation for chief executives of firms that receive government help.

"None of those were in the president's provisions. They are identical to the things I called for the day that Secretary Paulson released his package," Obama said. "That I think is an indication of the degree to which when it comes to protecting taxpayers, I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions."

Congressional leaders continued to work through the weekend on the bailout package and hoped to have a vote on the measure Monday in the House, with a vote in the Senate coming later.

From the Wall Street Journal:

"When taxpayers are asked to take such an extraordinary step because of the irresponsibility of a relative few, it is not a cause for celebration," Sen. Obama said in a statement Sunday [in reponse to the revised bailout plan]. "But this step is necessary."

...On Sunday, Sen. Obama hammered on economic themes. "The truth is, through 90 minutes of debating, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he had nothing to say about you," Sen. Obama told 35,000 people at a rally here. "He didn't even say the words 'middle class.' Not once did he talk about working families."

On Saturday, the Obama campaign launched a new ad that struck at Sen. McCain for not saying "middle class" during the debate.

...During the Detroit rally, where Sen. Obama and running mate Sen. Joseph Biden were joined by their wives, Sen. Obama said he laid out conditions for the bill when negotiations began. "I said it was unacceptable to expect the American people to hand this administration, of all administrations, a $700 billion check with no conditions and no oversight," he said. "And today...it looks like we have a rescue plan that includes these taxpayer protections."

From the Detroit Free Press:

When Michigan is the stop, presidential candidates turn to the economy, and Sen. Barack Obama went straight to work in Detroit on Sunday, railing against Wall Street and Washington for the current financial crisis.

Michigan has the nation's highest unemployment rate, at 8.9%; more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs have evaporated, and the mortgage foreclosure rate is among the highest in the nation.

"We meet here at a time of great uncertainty in Detroit and all across America," Obama said. "The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has led us to a financial crisis as serious as any we have faced since the Great Depression.

"I know these are difficult days, and nowhere has it been more difficult than Michigan and Detroit. But here's what I also know: We can steer ourselves out of this crisis. Because that's who we are. Because that's what we've always done as Americans."

Travonne Young, 42, of Detroit hears hundreds of distressing stories a day from people who need help. As an employee of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a social services agency in Detroit, she said she believes Obama can help swing the economy back from the brink.

...The setting of Obama's rally Sunday -- the stretch of Woodward flanked by the Detroit Institute of Arts on one side and the opulent Detroit Public Library on the other -- was a reminder of more prosperous times in Detroit. And Obama said that memory can become a reality once again.

He said he'll cut taxes for people in the middle class and eliminate the capital gains tax on small businesses and start-up companies. He pounded on Republican rival John McCain for supporting deregulation.

"My opponent, John McCain, talks about getting tough on Wall Street now, but you can't make up for 26 years in 26 days," Obama told the crowd, estimated by Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans, a Democrat, at 30,000 people.

"He's been against the common-sense rules and regulations that could've stopped this problem."

..."It looks like we have a rescue plan that includes these taxpayer protections. And it looks like we will pass that plan very soon," Obama said. "But our job is far from over. Because now that we're fixing the mess on Wall Street, we need to move with the same sense of urgency to help families on Main Street."

...Obama said McCain simply didn't understand the problems facing ordinary Americans and demonstrated that at Friday night's debate.

"The truth is, through 90 minutes of debating, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he had nothing to say about you. He didn't even say the words 'middle class.' Not once."

...At the rally, Denise Ilitch, daughter of Detroit Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, introduced Obama, vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and their spouses, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, and gave all four Wings jerseys bearing their names.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday sharpened his attacks on rival Sen. John McCain over the crisis gripping the financial sector.

"Sen. McCain doesn't get it. He doesn't understand the storm that hit Wall Street hit Main Street long ago," Obama said before a large crowd outside the Detroit Public Library. "That's why his first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response. He sort of stood there."

...[Joe] Biden was with Obama in Detroit. He, too, bore in on McCain, saying that the Republican had only supported federal intervention in the markets when convenient.

"John didn't see the light," Biden said. "John saw the polls."

...On Sunday, Biden returned to his home state to begin preparing, bringing along Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to serve as Palin's stand-in.

Suggesting the importance to Obama of the upcoming debate, top-level campaign strategist David Axelrod flew to Delaware on Sunday evening with Biden and Granholm.

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Sunday September 28 2008 09:29:26 AM

From the Associated Press:

Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama says he is inclined to support a proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street being negotiated by lawmakers.

Obama says a tentative agreement reached early Sunday includes several principles he proposed, including increased oversight, relief for homeowners facing foreclosure and limits on executive compensation for chief executives of firms that receive government help.

Obama says he is unhappy about the agreement, but says it is necessary.

Obama said he is inclined to support the bailout plan because he believes Main Street is now at stake.

From the News & Observer:

Fresh from the first presidential debate since the primaries, Democrat Barack Obama said Saturday that his Republican rival, John McCain, is not clued in to the economic struggles of average Americans.

"Through 90 minutes of debate, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he didn't have anything to say about you," Obama told a sprawling crowd in downtown Greensboro that police estimated at 20,000.

"He didn't even say the words, 'middle class,' " Obama said. "He didn't even say the words 'working people.'''

Obama, the Illinois senator, along with his vice presidential running mate, Joe Biden, sought repeatedly to tie McCain to the policies of President Bush on both the economy and the war in Iraq.

....This was the fourth general election appearance by Obama in North Carolina, where he continues to draw immense crowds not seen here since the 1980 campaign of Ronald Reagan. It was Biden's second visit. By comparison, McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have yet to campaign here, and McCain officials could not say when they might.

...Some in the crowd had traveled substantial distances to see Obama.

Among them was Joan McNamara, an elderly retired schoolteacher from New Bern, who left her house at 4 a.m. to attend the noontime rally.

"I don't think he [McCain] would raise his finger if I was sick," said McNamara. "He [Obama] is a people person. He wants to do things for people."

Biden, the Delaware senator, questioned McCain's wisdom on foreign affairs, leading the crowd on a "John McCain is wrong" mantra. He said McCain was wrong about the people of Iraq viewing Americans as liberators, wrong about the presence of weapons of mass destruction, and wrong that Afghanistan had been pacified

"At this point we need more than a brave soldier," Biden said, referring to McCain. "We need a wise leader."

Obama spent most of his time talking about the financial crisis, which he said was caused by "greed and irresponsibility" on Wall Street and in Washington.

He tied McCain to the sort of deregulation that contributed to Wall Street's problems. And he derided McCain's claim that he would take on special interests.

"He says he'll take on the corporate lobbyists, but he put seven of the biggest lobbyists in Washington in charge of his campaign," Obama said.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Appearing at the University of Mary Washington and fresh off the first presidential debate, Obama scolded Sen. John McCain, charging that the Republican presidential nominee failed to acknowledge the economic challenges facing the middle class.

"On issue after issue . . . you heard John McCain make the case for the same policies that got us into this mess," the Illinois senator said, referring to the collapse of the financial markets.

Obama said the nation is in a "time of great uncertainty, a defining moment in the era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington that has led us to the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression."

Jay Snipes, chief of the university's Police Department, estimated that 26,000 people descended on the university for the rally at Ball Circle, a grassy stretch at the center of the campus. Snipes, in an e-mail to the Obama campaign, estimated that 12,000 people crowded into Ball Circle, and an additional 14,000 clustered outside the perimeter of the rally.

Obama, who spoke for about 30 minutes, pointed to McCain's statement to voters in Jacksonville, Fla., on Sept. 15 that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

...McCain "didn't just make a mistake," Obama said yesterday. "He revealed an out-of-touch philosophy."

...Thousands turned out hours ahead of the rally for a glimpse at the Democratic ticket.

...Obama ended his remarks by taking a page from his own background in Chicago. He said that if the rally's attendees pitch in, make calls and do "some community organizing," he and Biden can win Virginia and the White House.

From Reuters:

Democrat Barack Obama accused John McCain on Saturday of playing politics with the financial crisis...

...Fresh from their first presidential debate, where the two White House hopefuls clashed sharply on spending and foreign policy, Obama hit the campaign trail and McCain sped to the capital where some Democrats have expressed fear he might upset delicate bailout negotiations.

..."George Bush has dug us into a deep hole. John McCain was carrying the shovel. It's going to take time to dig ourselves out," Obama said to a rally attended by about 20,000 people.

"You see, I think Senator McCain just doesn't get it -- he doesn't get that this crisis on Wall Street ... hit Main Street long ago," Obama said. "That's why he's been shifting positions these last two weeks, looking for a photo-op, and trying to figure out what to say and what to do," he said.

...In between his campaigning, Obama spoke by phone about the financial rescue with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and top Democratic lawmakers.

...Several have said they were frustrated with Thursday's theatrics when McCain rushed to Capitol Hill and then with Obama attended a White House meeting which ended in acrimony.

"The further presidential politics stays from these negotiations, the better off we'll be and the quicker we can come to a solution," said Sen. Charles Schumer, New York Democrat who chairs the Joint Economic Committee.

...The next scheduled debate is on Thursday between the vice presidential candidates, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, and Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

From the Detroit Free Press:

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton said Saturday that President George W. Bush has had "the worst presidency in the history of the Unites States" and gave a spirited pitch for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, saying he would produce and protect jobs in Michigan.

Speaking to a crowd of about 1,800 at a park along the Grand River, Clinton said Obama would produce and protect Michigan jobs by changing "the way we do business here and around the world."

The state has much at stake in efforts to prevent more bank failures, credit straits and job loss in the financial market tumbles, she said in the first of three mid-Michigan appearances Saturday. She blamed Republicans and free-market ideologues for the crisis gripping the nation.

"This means even more that we must have change. We cannot turn over our country, with our deep deficits, these serious economic problems, the international challenges, to the same team that got us into this mess in the first place," she said.

Clinton acknowledged the warm autumn day, in contrast to Washington, D.C., where she voted Saturday morning on a stopgap measure as negotiations for a U.S. bailout of Wall Street continued.

...Clinton noted the presidential debate Friday night, and said, "I'm campaigning as hard as I can to make sure" Obama "is the next president, and I'm sure last night a lot of Americans saw why."

In one of several pointed jabs at McCain, Clinton said his proposal for a market-based national health care system "would work as well as what we've seen on Wall Street. A lot of people would get rich, while a lot of others would be left holding the bag."

The difference, she said, is that lack of health care would jeopardize people's health or their lives if the system failed.

From the Sun Sentinel:

In Florida alone, about 600,000 blacks haven't registered to vote, Michelle Obama told a rally Saturday.

She and Jill Biden capped a two-week voter registration drive that included stops at several schools on the Florida A & M campus.

"We've seen young people finding their voices and casting their votes for the first time," Obama said. "And not-so-young people who haven't felt this way about an election in years."

..."Every day, every hour, every second counts," Obama said. "We're down to 39 days before folks go down to the polling place to make this choice."

Obama said the issues at stake — such as the Iraq war, financial crisis and health-care system — were personal for people, not just political.

"That's why we're all so pumped up and fired up and ready to go," Obama said. "This is personal, and I know everyone here feels how personal this is. We're feeling it every day, all of us."

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Saturday September 27 2008 08:58:29 AM

From TIME:

... On this night, Obama emerged as a candidate who was at least as knowledgeable, judicious and unflappable as McCain on foreign policy ... and more knowledgeable, and better suited to deal with the economic crisis and domestic problems the country faces.

...Obama seemed plenty presidential...

...Obama was more concerned with strategy, and an overall vision for the country—he was the one who brought up the damage done to America's standing in the world, and also the one who insisted on putting the war in Iraq in a broader strategic context: it had hurt America's overall position in the middle east by empowering Iran and allowing Al Qaeda to regain strength in Afghanistan. As for McCain's remark about Obama not knowing the difference between a tactic and a strategy—McCain was wrong. The counterinsurgency methods introduced by David Petraeus in Iraq were a tactical change, a new means to achieve Bush's same strategic end of a stable, unified Iraq. If Bush had decided to partition the country, or to withdraw, that would have been a change in strategy.

...The problem with McCain's aggressiveness was that it almost always involved misstating Obama's positions—on offshore drilling, nuclear power, talking to our enemies, raising taxes on the middle class, attacking Pakistan ... the same list of untruths McCain has stuck with throughout the campaign. Or he'd try to make petty distinctions, like whether Obama's initial statements on Georgia were tough enough.

When Obama chose to criticize McCain it was on big things—supporting the war in Iraq, opposing alternative energy, standing by the Republican trickle-down philosophy of taxation. In this way, too, Obama was strategic and McCain tactical.

McCain was also confused about what "preconditions" means in diplo-speak. The Bush Administration had, until recently, set a precondition for talks with Iran: that the Iranians had to stop processing nuclear fuel. Obama would talk to the Iranians—as Henry Kissinger and James Baker would—without setting that condition. (Diplo-speak only vaguely resembles English: precondition is redundant, all conditions for starting a negotiation are pre-.)

...Obama did speak in a stronger, firmer voice. He was clear, straightforward and not at all professorial. He looked directly into the camera.

Obama did everything he had to do, with few if any mistakes. I thought McCain did less so.

From the New York Times:

From the economy to foreign affairs to the way they carried themselves on stage, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama offered a dramatic contrast to the nation in their first presidential debate on Friday night, mixing disdain and often caustic remarks as they set out sharply different views of how they would manage the country and confront America’s adversaries abroad.

...For the first 40 minutes, Mr. Obama repeatedly sought to link Mr. McCain to President Bush, and suggested that it was policies of excessive deregulation that led to the financial crisis and mounting economic problems the nation faces now.

“We also have to recognize that this is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Senator McCain — the theory that basically says that we can shred regulations and consumer protections and give more and more to the most and somehow prosperity will trickle down,” Mr. Obama said. “It hasn’t worked, and I think that the fundamentals of the economy have to be measured by whether or not the middle class is getting a fair shake.”

...Mr. Obama seemed calm and in control and seemed to hold his own on foreign policy, the subject on which Mr. McCain was assumed to hold a natural advantage. Mr. Obama talked in detail about foreign countries and their leaders, as if trying to assure the audience that he could hold his own on the world stage. He raised his own questions about Mr. McCain’s judgment in supporting the Iraq war.

“You like to pretend like the war started in 2007 — you talk about the surge. The war started in 2003,” Mr. Obama said. “At the time, when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong.”

...[Mr. Obama] answered questions directly and affirmatively, typically looking right into the camera as he spoke.

...Turning to Mr. McCain, he said: “John, it’s been your president who you said you agreed with 90 percent of the time who presided over this increase in spending, this orgy of spending and enormous deficits and you voted for almost all of his budgets.”

From the Associated Press:

Now they take the themes from an intense first debate back to the campaign trail, looking for some edge in a tight presidential race. With 38 days left, McCain is headed for Washington and the dispute over a Wall Street bailout, while Obama plans to visit Republican-leaning states where the Democrat thinks he can make inroads.

...Interest in Friday's debate was amplified by suspense about whether it would even take place. McCain had said he wouldn't take part unless the financial crisis was resolved, then reversed course and decided at the last minute to participate without a deal.

...Obama, a 47-year-old serving his first term in the Senate, challenged McCain frequently and offered himself as someone who can be trusted to make sound choices.

Obama noted that he opposed invading Iraq, while McCain supported it. He said McCain has voted with the unpopular President Bush 90 percent of the time. He argued McCain backs corporate tax breaks and lax regulation that have contributed to the Wall Street economic crisis.

"We have to recognize that this is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Senator McCain," Obama said.

Obama sought to connect with voters who might have doubts about a relative newcomer to national politics, a black man with an exotic name and background. He talked often about the struggles of ordinary Americans — "the nurse, the teacher, the police officer who, frankly, at the end of each month they've got a little financial crisis going on."

...An early opponent of invading Iraq, he stressed that his position was prompted partly by worries that it would distract from hunting down Osama bin Laden, and he said withdrawing from Iraq now would free up resources to re-energize that hunt.

Obama suggested McCain might overreact to national emergencies, noting that the Arizona senator has talked about "extinction" for North Korea and joked about bombing Iran.

The candidates stood behind identical wooden lecterns on stage at the performing arts center at the University of Mississippi for the first of three scheduled debates with less than six weeks remaining until Election Day. The two vice presidential candidates will meet next week for their only debate, and Obama and McCain each put in a plug for his own running mate.

From the Boston Globe:

On the eve of tonight's debate that is supposed to focus on foreign policy, Barack Obama's campaign has up a new video from veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Speaking directly to the camera, they vouch for Obama. One says he knows that the United States has the best fighting force in the world.

Another says that Obama knows "that success is Iraqi security, not a 100-year American occupation," referring to a much-circulated comment that Republican rival John McCain made in New Hampshire this year that he could see US troops in Iraq for another 50 or 100 years in a peacekeeping role as in Korea.

And another vet says that Obama knows that Osama bin Laden must be caught.

The latter part of the spot features Tammy Duckworth, one of the Democrats who won congressional seats in the antiwar tide in 2006.

"We deserve a strategy that honors our sacrifice," Duckworth says from her wheelchair. She lost both legs when her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near Baghdad in November 2004. She says that Obama knows the need to care for veterans.

The Obama campaign also announced this afternoon that senior military leaders, veterans, and military family members supporting him will fan out to 27 cities to talk up his foreign policy plans in advance of tonight's debate.

"More than 14,000 military personnel and veterans have donated to the Obama campaign during this election cycle -- equivalent to an Army division."

Morning News

2008-11-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Friday September 26 2008 08:15:53 AM

From the Associated Press:

The first presidential debate between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama remained in doubt Friday, the very day it was to be held, embroiled in the same partisan divisions that were holding up a Wall Street bailout plan.

Obama said he intended to travel to the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where the debate had long been scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. EDT. McCain, who had proposed delaying the contest so the two presidential hopefuls could help negotiate an economic rescue plan, wouldn't commit.

"I'm very hopeful that we'll get enough of an agreement tomorrow so we can make this debate," McCain said Thursday on NBC's "Nightly News."

Obama tried to press McCain into showing up for the first of three scheduled debates between them, saying they should be able to handle the 90-minute forum and the financial crisis at the same time.

"Senator McCain has no need to be fearful about a debate," Obama told reporters. "He's a person of strong opinions and he's been expressing them on the campaign trail."

Both McCain and Obama returned to Washington on Thursday at the urging of President Bush, who invited them to a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House. But a session aimed at showing unity in resolving the financial crisis broke up with conflicts in plain view. McCain would not commit to supporting a plan worked out by congressional negotiators, said people from both parties who were briefed on the exchange.

...Meanwhile, debate preparations continued in Oxford, with streets blocked off and big TV screens set up on campus and near City Hall for large debate-watching parties.

Television network officials were left with the uncertainty of whether their Friday night programming would be the scheduled debate or something else arranged at the last minute.

...Obama told NBC that, should the debate go on, he would raise the economy even though the focus was supposed to be foreign policy.

"It's one of the fundamental differences that I have with John McCain, and it's something that I think we need to explore in a debate format," Obama said. "We're only talking about 90 minutes here."

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

On a campaign stop at Greensburg Salem High School ... [Joe] Biden portrayed himself and his new partner, Sen. Barack Obama, as guardians of taxpayer interests in the bailout talks under way in the Capitol. And he described their opponent, Sen. John McCain, as the heir to policies that set the stage for the excesses of Wall Street.

"At 9 a.m. last Monday, John McCain was saying that the fundamentals of the economy were strong," Mr. Biden said. "At 11 a.m. last Monday morning John McCain was saying we have a great economic crisis on our hands.

..."In a matter of two hours John McCain changed his rhetoric when what he should have been changing was his policies."

Of the talks that were going on as he spoke, he said, "We cannot and we will not simply bail out Wall Street without helping the millions of homeowners who are struggling just to stay in their homes. If Wall Street is going to get this help, Main Street should get it as well."

Mr. Biden criticized Mr. McCain as an advocate of the privatization of Social Security while contending that his tax proposals failed to include relief for seniors. In contrast, he pointed to an Obama plan that would eliminate federal income taxes for senior citizens making $50,000 or less.

The Delaware senator also claimed that the Republican's health care proposal would amount to a huge unheralded tax increase on the middle class. He referred to the fact that Mr. McCain's health care proposal would eliminate the long-standing tax break for employer-paid health insurance, deeming it taxable income.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is the largest tax increase in history on the middle class," he said.

From the Wiles-Barre Times Leader:

Mike Annone, a union member from Wilmington, Del., said Thursday he will go door to door in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties on behalf of the Democratic presidential ticket because he knows winning Pennsylvania won’t be easy.

...Nearly 500 people came out to hear Biden talk about the economy, ending the war in Iraq, lowering taxes, providing universal health care and the need for strong leadership.

“It’s critical that the people know how the candidates stand on the issues,” Annone said. “I’ll be knocking on doors in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton – wherever I can – to get the message out. Pennsylvania is a battleground state; you can tell how important it is by the amount of time and money the Republicans are spending here.”

...“Both Obama and Biden come from working-class families,” Annone said. “They know the struggles of the middle class. They will provide the direction, inspiration and motivation that the country needs.”

Joanne McDade, a 50-year-old psychiatric nurse from Wilkes-Barre, introduced Biden and said it was an honor she would never forget. McDade and her husband, Thomas, have four children – two just out of college, another in college and a high schooler.

She talked about her struggles and the strugglers of many Americans. She said the poor economy has changed her neighborhood because many have sold their homes to cope with the trying economic times.

“I’m proof of Barack Obama’s grassroots movement,” McDade said. “I’ve never done anything like this before; the most I’ve ever gotten involved in a political campaign was to put a sign in my yard. I truly believe in him and Sen. Biden and their message.”

...Joe Evan, 35, of Kingston, came with his wife and two children to hear Biden.

“We need leaders who are going to tackle the major issues – the economy, the energy crisis, foreign policy – that are facing the country,” Evan said. “We need competent leadership to attack the issues intelligently. We need Obama and Biden.”

Betty Daniels, a retired teacher’s aide, said it’s high time the Democrats took back the White House.

“The Republicans have had it too long,” she said. “And they haven’t done a very good job.”

Morning News

2008-11-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Wednesday September 24 2008 08:00:36 AM

From the Associated Press:

Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday any plan to rescue Wall Street from its financial woes must ensure that taxpayers are reimbursed and corporate executives are not further enriched for mismanagement.

...The Illinois senator added that his proposed middle-class tax cuts remain "absolutely necessary" despite the economic turbulence. He said they would put money in the pockets of working families at a time when the economy might be worsening.

Obama outlined several principles that he said should be included in the bailout to ensure that troubled financial firms and their executives don't take advantage of taxpayers

Companies that take financial aid from the government must slash their executives' salaries, he said.

..."This plan cannot be a welfare program for Wall Street executives," he said at a news conference.

Decisions on how to spend that $700 billion cannot be left solely in the hands of the Treasury secretary, Obama added.

Obama repeated his criticism of Republican John McCain's statement last week that the fundamentals of the economy are sound.

"I don't think, actually, the fundamentals of our economy are where they need to be," Obama said.

But speaking to reporters in Florida, where he later began preparing for Friday's debate, Obama said he remains committed to addressing needs in health care, education and energy.

He said he has outlined ways of paying for those programs that may not be affected by the Wall Street bailout and that they would help reduce economic turmoil.

..."When it comes to the middle-class tax cuts ... that is something that I believe is absolutely necessary to strengthen an economy that is going to be sliding, probably, into a deeper recession," Obama said.

From the Boston Herald:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Republican John McCain protected offshore tax shelters worth billions of dollars to U.S. insurance giants.

In his second trip in four days to this battleground state [Virginia] today, Biden said McCain promised to oppose any efforts to close a "Bermuda loophole" where American companies shielded $4 billion to $7 billion from U.S. taxes.

By claiming their headquarters as Bermuda, Biden said, firms actually based in the United States can keep profits out of the reach of the Internal Revenue Service.

"They're skipping out on billions of dollars in taxes, and that money could be used to insure our children, ... to make sure the (Veterans Administration) is not underfunded, to rebuild bridges that are crumbling around the nation," Biden said.

Biden was referring to a provision of tax law that some insurance companies can use to wipe out much of their U.S. tax liability.

...That creates a deduction that erases millions of dollars in taxable profits, costing the U.S. Treasury $4 billion or more a year.

McCain spent three days in Bermuda in August 2007 meeting business and political leaders, and while there was quoted by the island's main newspaper, the Royal Gazette, as promising to defend tax breaks for insurance companies that locate there.

"The industry, the reinsurance that's had such phenomenal success has been good for both nations," McCain was quoted as saying in an Aug. 23, 2007 article. "I would oppose any measures that would upset that."

..."We have a culture in Washington where the very few wealthy and powerful have a place at the table and everybody else is on the menu," Biden said.

..."On the floor of the United States Senate, John spoke out against these offshore tax breaks not long ago. Then while he was in Bermuda, according to the Bermuda World Gazette ... he started singing a very, very different tune," Biden said

Paraphrasing the newspaper account, Biden said McCain promised a group of insurance industry executives and lobbyists he would block efforts to close the loophole. In appreciation, Biden said, the industry gave McCain's campaign about $50,000.

From the Associated Press:

Democrats typically skip right over reliably Republican Indiana when plotting presidential campaign strategy.

Not Barack Obama.

The candidate from next-door Illinois is bidding to flip the state into the Democratic column this year.

To that end, he is doing what no presidential candidate has done in decades — spending significant amounts of money and time in the state, while Republican John McCain maintains a low profile.

Obama narrowly lost the May primary here to Hillary Rodham Clinton. And in the process, he had "the opportunity to at least define himself with Hoosier voters and that has lingered," said Kip Tew, a former state Democratic chairman who is a volunteer adviser to the Obama campaign. "They competed with a ground game that no one's ever seen in the state."

... The Democrat has 32 offices across the state and dozens of paid staffers. His campaign spent about $6 million on television advertising in Indiana leading up to the May primary and has aired at least $1.5 million in TV ads since June.

Obama has made five stops in the state since mid-July, and running mate Joe Biden was returning to the state Wednesday.

The McCain campaign, by contrast, is nearly invisible. It has no field offices or paid staffers working full-time in the state, and McCain hasn't visited the state since July 1.

Both candidates know history is not on Obama's side: For more than a generation, Indiana has been colored in for the GOP nominee soon after polls start closing. George W. Bush won with 60 percent in 2004 and 57 percent in 2000, and the state last went Democratic in the 1964 Lyndon Johnson landslide.

But Jessie Bochert, 45, who runs a business preparing houses for sale from her home in Granger, shows why Obama thinks he may have an opening in the state. Bochert, who voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, initially supported McCain but switched to Obama and began volunteering for his campaign.

"I feel guilty for all that has happened" under Bush, she said. "There are so many people I talk to, they can't afford their prescriptions, they don't know what to pay, they can't afford anything. It's really the economy, and that's what it's coming down to."

...Public polls taken this month show the two candidates running about even or McCain slightly ahead.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Every day, Stephanie Jackson drives from North Richmond to the South Side, where she works and her four daughters attend school.

...On the nights when her daughter, who is prone to allergic reactions, wakes up breathless, Jackson isn't sure she has enough gas to make it to the emergency room.

Jackson told her story yesterday sitting beside Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in a sparse, cinder-block community center off of a trailer-speckled stretch of Jefferson Davis Highway in Chesterfield County.

Sebelius, once considered a potential running mate for Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, was in town to talk up Obama's policies. She sat among four women who addressed hardships that touched off policy discussions from Sebelius.

It wasn't much different from the gathering organized for Michelle Obama's trip to Richmond last week, when the nominee's wife met with women who are struggling financially.

Sebelius, a Democratic governor in a Republican state, said in a brief interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch that in "the economic challenges we're facing, women are on the front lines."

"I certainly think there was no question this historic candidacy of [Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton] left a lot of people very excited about watching a woman on the campaign trail running for president," she said.

...But people are now studying how the candidates' agendas will affect their families, she said.

"The road to the White House goes right through the Commonwealth of Virginia," she added.

Morning News

2008-11-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Monday September 22 2008 08:17:29 AM

From the Charlotte Observer:

In Charlotte's biggest political rally in decades, about 20,000 people Sunday heard Barack Obama link John McCain and his party to an era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington."

"They said they wanted to let the market run free but instead they let it run wild," Obama said. "And now we are facing a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression."

Obama, in shirtsleeves and tie, spoke for 30 minutes to a crowd that in many cases skipped church and a televised Panthers' game to see a part of presidential history.

...It was the city's biggest gathering for a candidate since Democrat Bill Clinton drew 15,000 to nearby Marshall Park weeks before winning his first term in 1992. In 1984, Republican President Ronald Reagan drew 40,000 in south Charlotte.

Lines backed up for blocks on Third and Trade streets before and during the rally. Some people never made it past the security perimeter.

...In the heart of the country's second-biggest banking center, Obama called the government's proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout "sobering." He sought to blame the deregulation generally favored by Republicans.

"And yet Sen. McCain, who candidly admitted not long ago that he doesn't know as much about economics as he should, wants to keep going down the same, disastrous path.

"He calls himself 'fundamentally a deregulator,' when reckless deregulation and lack of oversight is a big part of the problem … The radical idea that government has no role to play in protecting ordinary Americans has wreaked havoc on our economy."

..."John McCain rejected complacency and political calculation in favor of a direct call for updated, effective regulations that will protect Americans' homes, savings and jobs," Bounds said. "We cannot afford a directionless driver like Barack Obama."

Obama called for another $50 billion "stimulus" payment to taxpayers. He has also called for overhauling the country's regulatory system. He promised to end tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, eliminate the capital gains tax for small businesses and start-ups, invest in a "green" economy and end the war in Iraq.

"If we can rebuild Baghdad," he said. "We can rebuild Charlotte and we can rebuild North Carolina."

From Reuters:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Sunday called the $700 billion price tag for a financial market bailout "staggering" and said the final product must protect U.S. taxpayers and include a commitment to new regulatory reforms.

At a rally in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, Obama laid the blame for the Wall Street crisis on Republican economic policies favored by John McCain, his rival in the Nov. 4 presidential election.

"We're now seeing the disastrous consequences of this philosophy all around us -- on Wall Street as well as Main Street," Obama told the crowd estimated at about 20,000.

...Obama said any final package must ensure that taxpayers and homeowners were protected. He said it should include a global response and a commitment to broad regulatory reforms that would prevent another crisis.

...The visit to North Carolina is Obama's third in the general election campaign. The state is traditionally a Republican stronghold in presidential elections, but Obama has tried to make it competitive this year.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

At 3:17 p.m., Joe Biden, the longtime U.S. senator from Delaware, steps off the Acela train at the Wilmington Amtrak station - and rushes back to say goodbye to the conductor.

Then, walking down the station steps, he catches sight of an Amtrak ticket agent he hasn't seen in four years.

"How have you been?" Biden enthusiastically asks Saketha Martin, 42, now based in New York.

Since Biden became a vice presidential candidate, Democrats have pointed to his commute as a metaphor for his accessibility and down-home style.

"He never moved to Washington," Barack Obama said in his speech at the Democratic National Convention, where he introduced Biden as his running mate.

"Instead, night after night, week after week, year after year, he returned home to Wilmington on a lonely Amtrak train."

...For more than three decades, beginning after his first wife and daughter died in a 1972 car crash, Biden traveled alone between Wilmington and Washington. He did it initially to be with his remaining two children at night. Over the years, he made lifelong friends of Amtrak personnel and fellow commuters.

So, before leaving the station, he made a point of ducking into Primo Cappuccino to shake hands with staff.

"Since the news on the vice-presidential choice, he's not alone any longer," said Rick Atnip, who works at Primo Cappuccino. He recalls how Biden, until late August, used to swing by in the mornings to chat over a cup of black coffee.

Once the train pulls into Union Station, Biden has a seven-minute walk through the Lower Senate Park to his office on the second floor of the Russell Senate Office Building. In the yellow reception room is a prominent photograph of his family, including his two sons and a daughter with his second wife, Jill.

From the Badger Herald:

Sen. Barack Obama and his wife will be visiting several different Wisconsin cities today.

Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, will hold a campaign event in Green Bay, and his wife Michelle will hold three separate events in Madison, Milwaukee and Wausau. This will be Obama's third visit to the state in the last month but his wife's first since Wisconsin's Democratic primary in February.

...Michelle Obama will host Wisconsin Women for Obama rallies in both Madison and Milwaukee. She will also host an economic roundtable discussion with working women in Wausau.

"This is part of the Women's Week of Action," said Phil Walzak, Wisconsin communications director for the Obama campaign. "She's going to be addressing issues that are of interest [to women]."

According to the campaign, the purpose of the Women's Week of Action is to emphasize the choice women have when voting about issues that matter most to them. These issues include equal pay for equal work, family leave and other pocketbook issues.

Michelle Obama began holding the roundtable discussions a year and a half ago to hear the economic concerns of women across the country. In addition to the discussion held in Wausau, Michelle Obama will be traveling to Richmond, Va., and Charlotte, N.C.

Morning News

2008-11-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Sunday September 21 2008 09:10:55 AM

From the New York Times:

Senator Barack Obama delivered an ominous warning to Florida voters on Saturday, suggesting that Senator John McCain would “gamble with your life savings” by investing Social Security money in private accounts that could be affected by the roiling financial markets.

...“If my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would’ve had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week,” Mr. Obama told an audience here. “How do you think that would have made folks feel? Millions would’ve watched as the market tumbled and their nest egg disappeared before their eyes.”

The debate over Social Security, which has been unfolding for weeks between the two candidates, took on fresh urgency as the government on Saturday presented details of a $700 billion rescue of the nation’s financial system. The bailout plan changes the landscape of the presidential race and places the proposals of both candidates under higher scrutiny.

Mr. Obama, who appeared before about 2,000 people at Bethune-Cookman University here before holding an evening rally in Jacksonville, is working to increase his appeal to voters in this crucial state. Social Security is a chief concern for retirees — some of whom are the most sought-after voters in Florida — and Mr. Obama vigorously pressed the issue at a campaign event geared toward women.

“I know Senator McCain is talking about a casino culture on Wall Street,” Mr. Obama said. “But the fact is, he’s the one who wants to gamble with your life savings.”

The argument delivered by Mr. Obama on Saturday, which will be amplified through television advertisements, underscores the competition in Florida. Mr. Obama, who did not compete in the state during the primary, is stepping up his presence here and selected Tampa Bay as the site of three days of debate camp beginning on Tuesday.

From the Miami Harold:

To an amped and overflowing crowd in a Republican stronghold, Democrat Barack Obama stepped up his attacks on John McCain, saying Saturday that the Republican in these tough economic times ``wants to do for healthcare what Washington did for banking.''

Obama's broadside -- including a shot on McCain for having top Washington mortgage-industry lobbyists on his campaign -- was launched in the very city where, five days before, McCain armed Obama with a potent political tool: McCain's statement that the ''fundamentals of the economy are strong.''

And Florida voters, according to a new Miami Herald poll, favor Obama's approach to handling it. Obama followed McCain into Florida -- the nation's top job loss state -- and gave nearly identical speeches in Miami, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville to portray McCain as too much of a self-described ''de-regulator'' to propose workable regulations.

...Obama said that McCain's campaign is so heavily run by lobbyists that the past head of Fannie Mae's lobbying shop recently state that, ''When I see photographs of Sen. McCain's staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me.'' Said Obama: ``Folks, you can't make this stuff up -- Gimme a break.''

The overflow crowd at Jacksonville's Metropolitan Park -- capacity 13,000 -- ate it up. The energy was notable because though Democrats outnumber Republicans in Duval County, it is a reliable area for the GOP. George Bush got nearly 1 and ½ times more votes than John Kerry in 2004. McCain could barely muster 3,000 when he spoke nearby on Monday.'

From the Tampa Tribune:

Democrat Barack Obama criticized Republican presidential rival John McCain on today for his past advocacy of deregulation, ties to lobbyists and support for privatizing the Social Security system many of the state's elderly residents depend on to make a living.

The Democratic presidential nominee used McCain's words to portray him as an opponent of federal regulation of the banking industry.

McCain, a 26-year veteran of Congress with a long history of opposition to such regulation, now says more controls are needed to prevent a repeat of the financial turmoil that sent the stock market plunging this past week.

"There's only one candidate who's called himself 'fundamentally a deregulator' when deregulation is part of the problem," Obama said during an appearance at Bethune-Cookman University, arranged to highlight his campaign's effort to reach out to women voters.

Obama quoted McCain as saying in trade publication that opening the health insurance market to more vigorous competition nationwide, as was done with the banking industry during the past decade, would provide more choices.

"So let me get this straight. He wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street," Obama said. "Well, Senator, I know some folks on Main Street who aren't going to think that's a good idea."

..."There's only one candidate whose campaign is being run by seven of Washington's most powerful lobbyists, and folks, it isn't me," Obama said, adding that he doesn't "take a dime" from Washington lobbyists and special interests. He does, however, accept money from non-Washington lobbyists.

"So when John McCain says that lobbyists 'won't even get past the front gate' at his White House, my question is, 'Who's going to stop them?' Those seven lobbyists," Obama said.

On Social Security, Obama said he'll protect and strengthen the program, while McCain wants to privatize it.

...Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, have focused on the faltering economy in recent days, and particularly its effect on women. He focused on his history of being raised by a single mother who once relied on food stamps to make ends meet.

"I know how hard the women of this country are working," Obama said. "I know the anxiety so many of you are feeling right now, as we stand in the midst of the most serious financial crisis of our time."

From the Viginia Pilot:

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is the presidential candidate who can lead the United States, work with other nations and restore the world's confidence in democracy, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told more than 400 people Saturday at Christopher Newport University's Ferguson Center for the Arts.

"I think he has a 21st-century vision for these 21st-century problems," Albright said. "I am so admiring of the way he thinks."

Albright, who became the country's first female secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, was in Newport News for the first of three stops Saturday in Virginia, supporting Obama in a state she believes will be crucial in the November election.

...In a 20-minute speech followed by questions from the audience, Albright outlined the big "umbrella issues" that will be facing America's next president as he takes on an increasingly unstable global situation. A new president will have to fight terrorists without creating more of them, forge new nuclear weapons agreements, and "restore the good name of democracy," she said.

"I don't think I've ever seen the world in such a mess," said Albright, who served as secretary of state from 1997 to 2001.

Albright said the war in Iraq "will go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy."

She said the next president will have to find a way to manage the instability in Pakistan, where a truck bomb at the entrance to a Marriott hotel killed at least 40 people this weekend. That will be a difficult task, Albright said.

...She also urged new efforts to discuss matters with Russia and Iran, once again pumping up Obama while taking a subtle swipe at Bush. "Barack Obama believes you should actually talk to the people you don't like," she said to cheers from the crowd.

Even in later interviews with local media, Albright stayed away from slamming McCain or Palin. She also made it clear that she had no intention of reclaiming her old job under Obama.

"I'm not doing this in order to be a part of the administration," she said. "I'm doing this because he is the best candidate."

From the Associated Press:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Saturday that Republican John McCain has helped President Bush destroy regulatory safeguards for the middle class in general and the labor movement in particular.

Biden, a Delaware senator, told hundreds of cheering coal mining families at a United Mine Workers picnic that McCain went along with Bush in putting anti-labor, corporate interests in charge of the U.S. Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board.

"Do any of you doubt that this administration has anything else in mind than doing in the labor movement?" Biden said.

Biden's visit was the third since June by him or Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to the rural, blue-collar southwestern tip of Virginia, a battleground state that hasn't backed a Democrat for president in 44 years.

Biden sought to link McCain and Bush in blame for high fuel costs, declining health benefits for workers and veterans, and a troubled stock market.

"This president has us engaged in three wars — one of necessity in Afghanistan and one of choice in Iraq. But he also has been at war on labor's house since the day he was elected. It is an outright war on labor's house," Biden said.

He said veterans have faced substandard medical care and educational benefits under the administration, and that when Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., sought to improve them by introducing a new GI Bill, McCain said the bill was too generous.

...Biden also read comments attributed to McCain in a trade publication in which he called for reducing regulation for health insurance markets the way the banking industry was deregulated in the past 10 years. Obama referenced the same comments during his appearance in Florida.

That approach, Biden said, would expose health coverage for workers to the disastrous results that subprime mortgages wrought on the lending industry.

"He wants to do for health care what he did for banks," Biden said, echoing Obama.

Morning News

2008-11-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn -Saturday September 20 2008 08:30:29 AM

From Reuters:

The Democratic presidential candidate [Barack Obama] praised efforts by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to rescue endangered financial firms and keep credit markets solvent and said "even bolder and more decisive action" was necessary.

...Obama said the government must be given broad authority to stabilize the markets, but any rescue plan must also include new oversight and regulations of financial institutions while ensuring public money is replaced as quickly as possible with private assets.

...As he talked to reporters he was flanked by Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, former treasury secretaries under President Bill Clinton. Obama also met with former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and Laura Tyson, former chairwoman of Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers.

Obama has been scathing in his criticism of his rival's response to the crisis, including McCain's statement earlier in the week that the fundamentals of the economy were strong and his call for a commission to investigate the financial collapse.

...Obama told a cheering crowd in Florida, a key battleground in the November election campaign, that McCain was "in a panic" as he tried to deal with the growing economic crisis.

"At this point he seems to be willing to say anything or do anything," he said.

From the Miamia Herald:

Campaigning Friday in Miami, Democrat Barack Obama broadly endorsed the government's plan to rescue Wall Street and promised middle-class tax cuts to revive Main Street.

...Obama, who arrived in hard-hit Florida three days after McCain left the state, ridiculed his rival for casting blame after serving for decades longer in Washington.

...He added: ``This isn't a time for fear or panic. It's a time for resolve, and it's a time for leadership.''

...Focusing for the first time in Florida on Social Security, dubbed the ''third rail'' of state politics because it's such a sensitive issue for retirees, Obama accused McCain of being willing to risk pensions in the stock market. McCain supported Bush's failed proposal in 2005 to shore up the troubled fund by investing some money in private accounts.

''When I am president, we are not going to gamble with Social Security'' Obama said, echoing a new ad running in Palm Beach County.

...Obama leaves Miami with a long-sought endorsement from Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and heads to rallies Saturday in Daytona Beach and Jacksonville.

Much of Obama's speech Friday focused on women, whom he described as bearing the brunt of economic hard times.

He touted his sponsorship of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, aimed at making it easier for women to sue employers for equal pay by giving them more time to file complaints.

McCain opposed the measure, named for an Alabama factory worker who took her claim of sex discrimination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

''I won't give up until women in this country are paid what they have earned and not a penny less,'' Obama said.

Obama's speech was preceded by a lineup of female elected officials who tried to make the case that the Illinois senator is on the right side of women's issues.

From the Washington Post:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr drew several hundred partisan supporters to a Sterling park yesterday for an event targeting female voters in a region that has emerged as a battleground.

Biden (Del.) said he and presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would, if elected, press for equal pay for women and health-care reform.

He also touched on the Wall Street meltdown, offering a two-pronged response to the financial crisis.

"Short-term need: to staunch the bleeding," Biden told the crowd at Claude Moore Park. For the long term, he said, "We have to have a major, major, major overhaul of how the financial system works."

...Yesterday, Biden was flanked by several women from his family as he repeatedly sought to tie the Republican ticket to the incumbent president.

"The Bush administration has dug us into a very deep hole," Biden said. "When the economy goes south, who are the first people that get hurt the most? It's women! We're going to change that!"

Biden said his own support of legislation to prevent domestic violence stood in contrast with McCain's record.

"John McCain didn't believe there was need for the Violence Against Women Act," Biden said, drawing boos from the crowd. "He voted against it. He said it was ineffective and ill-conceived. Ladies and gentleman, tell that to the 1.5 million women who found it necessary."

Biden also criticized McCain's support of a Bush administration effort to privatize Social Security. "Imagine if all the money that he wanted to put in the market were in the market today," Biden said. "Tens of thousands of elderly women would be in a worse situation than they are in today."

Morning News

2008-11-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Friday September 19 2008 08:10:47 AM

From the Washington Post:

Barack Obama turned to a team of advisers that shaped America's economy in happier days to fashion fresh ideas for calming the stomach-churning financial crisis that has thundered from Wall Street to Main Street.

Some of the most respected names in the business world were pitching in Friday, including billionaire investor Warren Buffett, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, former Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers and Paul O'Neill and Laura Tyson, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton.

..."This is not a time for fear, it's not a time for panic," Obama said Thursday in New Mexico. "This is a time for resolve and it is a time for leadership."

...Briefly outlining his proposals, Obama said he would call for a Homeowner and Financial Support Act "that would establish a more stable and permanent solution than the daily improvisations that have characterized policy-making over the past year."

...Obama had telephone discussions Thursday about the financial markets with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Fed chief Paul Volcker and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.

Saying that McCain strongly advocated deregulation and then changed his mind, Obama said, "We can't afford to lurch back and forth between positions depending on the latest news of the day when dealing with an economic crisis.

"We need some clear and steady leadership and that's why I was ahead of the curve in calling for regulation," he said. "And that's why I'm calling on the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to use their emergency authorities to maintain the flow of credit, to support the availability of mortgages and to ensure that our financial system is well capitalized."

From Reuters:

Presidential candidate Barack Obama urged the Federal Reserve and the Treasury on Thursday to take emergency steps to keep credit flowing to the troubled housing market, saying it would help stem the crisis sweeping financial markets.

"The events of the past few days have made clear that we need to do more right now," the Democratic senator from Illinois told a campaign rally in New Mexico.

"That is why I am calling on the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to use their emergency authorities to maintain the flow of credit, to support the availability of mortgages, and to ensure that our financial system is well-capitalized."

...As Wall Street grapples with the worst crisis since the Great Depression, the financial turmoil has become the top theme on the campaign trail...

...In addition to calling for a short-term boost to the mortgage market by the Fed and Treasury, Obama also called for legislation that he said would provide a longer-term remedy to the Wall Street turbulence by giving policy makers better tools for managing problems.

...Obama said the legislation would allow for the addition of capital to the financial system and replenishing liquidity to restore the normal functioning of financial markets.

It would also include a proposal he has previously called for that would allow struggling homeowners to restructure their mortgages.

As markets began to melt down on Monday, both Obama and McCain, an Arizona senator, called for a broader overhaul of regulation on Wall Street, including a bolstering of the oversight role of agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission.

...But Obama, who proposed a revamp of financial regulations in a March speech, has accused McCain of being a late convert to stricter market oversight and has mocked him for saying this week that the fundamentals of the economy were strong.

From the New York Times:

The head of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve began discussions on Thursday with Congressional leaders on what could become the biggest bailout in United States history.

While details remain to be worked out, the plan is likely to authorize the government to buy distressed mortgages at deep discounts from banks and other institutions. The proposal could result in the most direct commitment of taxpayer funds so far in the financial crisis that Fed and Treasury officials say is the worst they have ever seen.

...Democrats, having their own desire for a second round of economic aid for struggling Americans, see the administration’s request as a way to win White House approval of new spending to help stimulate the economy in exchange for support for the Treasury request. Democrats also say they will push for relief for homeowners faced with foreclosure in return for supporting any broad bailout of struggling financial institutions.

...The scale and complexity of the project are almost certain to create huge philosophical differences among the parties, which could make negotiations difficult to say the least. Still, lawmakers said the goal was to work through the coming weekend and to have both the House and Senate vote on a measure by the end of next week.

...Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, in a letter sent Thursday evening to President Bush, reiterated that view. “We stand ready beyond the targeted adjournment date of September 26 to permit Congress to consider legislative proposals and conduct necessary investigations,” Ms. Pelosi said in the letter, which said “the worsening crisis in our financial markets demands strong solutions and decisive leadership.”

From the Associated Press:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday called Republican John McCain's answers to the current economic crisis "the ultimate bridge to nowhere"...

...Biden's two-day bus trip in the region includes stops in areas devastated by thousands of job losses in manufacturing and the auto industry. With the economy a top concern in Ohio, polls were tight in this essential swing state.

...The reference to the infamous Alaska project dubbed "the Bridge to Nowhere" was a dig at McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who supported building the bridge until Congress moved to kill it as an example of wasteful spending. She has since claimed she stopped the project — a nearly $400 million structure designed to link a southeastern Alaska town to its airport on a nearby island — and told Congress "thanks, but no thanks" when, in fact, the state diverted the money to other projects.

..."We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people," Biden said. Of those who would pay more, he said: "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut."

...Although McCain claims Obama would raise taxes, the independent Tax Policy Center and other groups conclude that four out of five U.S. households would receive tax cuts under Obama's proposals.

Morning News

2008-11-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Wednesday September 17 2008 07:30:24 AM

From the New York Times:

Mr. Obama spoke forcefully about the economy on Tuesday during a 40-minute address at the Colorado School of Mines... He called for more aggressive regulation on Wall Street and a renewed emphasis on innovation before returning to bread-and-butter issues like opposing extending the administration’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

With Mr. Obama drawing so much early attention for his opposition to the Iraq war — not a message of economic populism — many of his economic proposals have received limited notice. So using a teleprompter, he gave a speech here intended to set the framework for the rest of the campaign.

“It’s hard to understand how Senator McCain is going to get us out of this crisis by doing the same things with the same old players,” Mr. Obama told a cheering crowd of about 2,000 people. “Make no mistake: my opponent is running for four more years of policies that will throw the economy further out of balance. His outrage at Wall Street would be more convincing if he wasn’t offering them more tax cuts.”

Through those words, Mr. Obama is striving to boil down the argument of Wall Street to make it more applicable to the lives of all voters, no matter where they are. In hundreds of town meetings with voters in the last 19 months, he has heard countless stories about Americans who have lost their jobs, their homes and their quality of life.

From the Denver Post:

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Tuesday called for "common-sense regulations" for the financial industry and accused rival John McCain of lacking leadership and wanting to "pass the buck" on the country's economic problems.

Campaigning in Colorado for a second straight day, the Democratic nominee revisited a number of his economic proposals, such as an immediate $50 billion fiscal stimulus injection.

... Obama said McCain embraces the Bush administration's "economic philosophy that has completely failed" and scorned the Arizona senator's call Tuesday for a 9/11-style commission to investigate Wall Street's financial meltdown.

"This morning, instead of offering up concrete plans to solve these issues, Sen. McCain offered up the oldest Washington stunt in the book — you pass the buck to a commission to study the problem," Obama told a crowd of about 2,000 people gathered in a gym at the Colorado School of Mines. "This isn't 9/11. We know how we got into this mess. What we need now is leadership that gets us out."

Obama said his priority as president would be to stabilize the U.S. economy, while giving the middle class a boost.

From the Chicago Tribune:

As the most severe financial crisis in at least a generation continues to shake Main Street, Sen. Barack Obama suggested Tuesday he is more committed to economic reform and added regulation than his opponent.

The Illinois Democrat painted Sen. John McCain of Arizona as someone who has shown no past interest in added regulation of business or Wall Street.

"My opponent is running for four more years of policies that will throw the economy further out of balance," Obama told an audience at Colorado School of Mines. "His outrage at Wall Street would be more convincing if he wasn't offering them more tax cuts. His call for fiscal responsibility would be believable if he wasn't for more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans."

Obama said McCain would support the same kind of lax oversight as the Bush administration, adding that the last few days have shown that philosophy has "completely failed."

From the Toledo Blade:

The Obama-Biden campaign yesterday rolled out a five-point plan for improving the Great Lakes, including a commitment of $5 billion to help the region move faster on sewage work and other overdue projects that were identified in an unprecedented needs inventory in 2005.

... 'Our position has been, and will continue to be, that the next president needs to take decisive action to confront the serious threats facing the Great Lakes before the problems get worse and more costly,' he said. 'This support should include fully funding in five years the comprehensive effort to restore the Great Lakes, as delay will only exacerbate the problems and cost American taxpayers more money.'

... The five points in the Obama proposal include the money for restoration work, plus the creation of a Great Lakes coordinator to streamline efforts of federal, state, and local agencies.

It calls for an increased focus on reducing toxic hotspots and mercury pollution as well as invasive species.

It promises Mr. Obama will sign into law the proposed water compact among the eight Great Lakes states as well as help governors implement it. The regional compact, which seeks to curb diversions outside of the basin, has been approved by the U.S. Senate and is awaiting approval by the House.

Morning News

2008-11-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Monday September 15 2008 08:03:42 AM

From the Associated Press:

When Wall Street woke up Monday morning, two more of its storied firms had fallen.

Lehman Brothers, burdened by $60 billion in soured real-estate holdings, said it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after attempts to rescue the 158-year-old firm failed.

Bank of America Corp. said it is snapping up Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. in a $50 billion all-stock transaction.

The demise of the independent Wall Street institutions came as shock waves from the 14-month-old credit crisis roiled the U.S. financial system six months after the collapse of Bear Stearns.

The world's largest insurance company, American International Group Inc., also was forced into a restructuring.

...The stunning weekend developments took place as voters, who rank the economy as their top concern, prepare to elect a new president in seven weeks.
... The common denominator of the financial crisis, analysts said, is the bursting of the housing bubble. Home prices have dropped on average 25 percent so far. Roubini predicted they could drop another 15 percent.

The crisis has begun to slow the broader economy as banks make fewer loans and consumers have begun cutting spending.

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

Sen. Joe Biden, Barack Obama's choice as running mate, made his first post-nomination visit to North Carolina yesterday, appealing to voters with a fiery speech on health care and the economy.

... His visit was also the first time any of the candidates have been to North Carolina since the parties' conventions.

... [Biden] focused on health insurance, gas prices, jobs and other kitchen-table issues. Both presidential campaigns in North Carolina have said that such issues are the chief concerns among voters in the state heading into the Nov. 4 election.

Biden spoke before about 1,000 people in a gymnasium at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology, a magnet high school in Charlotte.

His visit is the latest sign of the intensity of the presidential race in North Carolina, an unusual phenomenon in a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years.

Obama said he believes that he can make North Carolina competitive. He has visited the state twice since June, he has advertised heavily on television here ... and has opened 34 offices across the state.

From WKYC-NBC:

Sarah Cowans-Sparks came to the rally at Lorain County Community College with some doubts about Senator Hillary Clinton.

She left the Sunday afternoon rally as a believer and as a volunteer for Barack Obama.

"I have to admit I was a little bit hesitant, whether she was really going to be all out for Obama" Cowans-Sparks said. "After listening to (Senator Clinton), it gave me hope that she's really in his corner."

More than 500 people came to see and listen to the Senator from New York. The blue collar, blue jeans audience included dozens of African-Americans and Hispanic supporters.

"To those of you who supported me, I thank you," Senator Clinton said. "And I ask you to work as hard for Barack Obama as you worked for me."

During her 20-minute speech, Senator Clinton said that Democrats understand what concerns Ohioans the most in this election: jobs and healthcare. Senator Clinton predicted that a move to "green" energy alternatives could create up to five million jobs.

"We have to keep pushing the envelope. We have to keep inventing things and putting people to work making those things," Senator Clinton said. "See, I don't how you remain a strong economy and a strong country if you don't make things.

"If we don't do something about it, we will not recognize our country in the next 10 years," Senator Clinton said.

R. Chapman, an asphalt contractor from Elyria said that the rough economy has put potholes in his wallet.

"I am 36 years old. I've lived in Ohio my whole life," Chapman said. "And this is the worst it's ever been.

... Senator Clinton criticized the Republican ticket of McCain-Palin as "more of the same failed policies" of the Bush administration.

"I campaigned with (Barack Obama) for 16 months, criss-crossing our country and certainly one end of Ohio to the next," Senator Clinton said.

"So I have seen his passion and determination and his grace and grit."

From the Canton Rep:

Upon returning from Walt Disney World, Maria Jones and her son chose to wait another 45 minutes in line under a scorching sun for just one more attraction — a rally this afternoon featuring Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"I'm so excited," said Jones, 40, of Lake Township, as she waited for Clinton to speak in a blistering high school gym in Akron. "She's actually one of my heroes. I really think she's a wonderful example, role model for women, young and old."

But though she backed Clinton in the Ohio presidential primary in March, Jones, whose 16-year-old son, Eli, plays hockey for Hoover High School, is now firmly behind Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

"I'm a hockey mom for Obama," said Jones.

Clinton was in Ohio today to headline campaign rallies in Elyria and Akron in support of Barack Obama, who prevailed over Clinton in a contentious battle earlier this year for the Democratic presidential nomination. The campaign said more than 1,600 people crowded into the Ellet High School gymnasium in Akron before Clinton arrived around 3:30 p.m.

Judi Hederich, of Green was one of those people.

"I think (Clinton) was a wonderful candidate," she said. "She's a real party player. She'll do everything she can to get Obama elected. I think she wants what's best for our country, and that's not (Republican presidential nominee) John McCain and (Republican vice presidential nominee) Sarah Palin."

..."I know it's a little hot in here, but we need to remember that we've got to turn up the heat on the Republicans and elect a new president," Clinton said. "Barack Obama is my candidate, and I hope he is your candidate too."

The former first lady said America needs a president who will change the nation's direction, work on generating good ideas that will restore America's prosperity and establish universal health care.

...She talked about job creation.

"(Obama and his vice presidential running mate, Joe Biden) have the positive ideas that will make a difference in preventing our jobs from being shipped overseas. (Obama) will end the policies that give tax incentives to businesses that move jobs out of Ohio, instead of creating jobs in Ohio."

Clinton said Obama will cut taxes for the middle class, make college affordable, invest in clean job-creating energy initiatives, strengthen Social Security and help parents balance family and work.

"... Barack and I may have started out on two separate paths, but we are on one journey (now), and with your help, this journey will lead straight to the White House."

Morning News

2008-11-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn-Sunday September 14 2008 09:48:37 AM

From the Washington Post:

Barack Obama brought his newly aggressive campaign against Republican opponent John McCain to an open-air rally here, castigating the senator from Arizona as a latecomer to the cause of change and imploring about 8,000 Granite State citizens to ignore the GOP's barrage of negative attacks.

"The McCain-Palin ticket, they don't want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on the issues, because they're running on eight more years," Obama said under a sunny sky at Veterans Memorial Park. "They will try to distort my record, and they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats want to do. . . . But the times are too serious for those strategies to work this time."

...Saturday's event was toned down as Hurricane Ike ravaged Texas. An appearance by running mate Joseph R. Biden Jr. was scrapped. A scheduled appearance on Saturday Night Live was canceled.

Obama opened his rally here with an appeal for help for the Red Cross and hurricane victims in Texas. "During difficult times, during moments of tragedy, the American people come together," he said.

..."People are concerned not just for their immediate well-being, but they're concerned about what happened to that promise, what happened to that dream? Are we going to be the first generation that passes on a country that is a little less prosperous, a little less unified and a little meaner than the last generation?" he said, intoning the phrase that has become his theme since the Democratic convention. "We are here to say enough is enough."

From the Toledo Blade:

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius greeted about 60 people — more than half of them women — during an economic town-hall forum yesterday in the Rossford Community Recreation Center, sponsored by Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

For about 50 minutes, the governors touted Mr. Obama’s plans on taxes, energy, health care, education, and veterans benefits and tied GOP presidential candidate John McCain to the policies of President Bush. The governors also took several questions from the audience.

They campaigned in Columbus and Marion, Ohio, earlier in the day.

... Governor Napolitano urged those who were persuaded by her arguments in support of Mr. Obama to go out and make those same points with neighbors and co-workers.

... Governor Napolitano said she was a supporter of Mr. Obama’s presidential bid from nearly the beginning.

“I was persuaded very early on that he had the type of intellect and judgment this country needs,” she said. “It’s not just about change, but who can effectuate change. He has demonstrated time and time again he has those capabilities.”

She said Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is doing the best he can, but “in terms of the economy, [he] has no effective partner in Washington, D.C., and certainly no partner that has a plan or a methodology to move us out of years where we have been losing jobs, moving jobs overseas, where people’s personal incomes if anything have been stagnant, where retirees having been losing their pensions and are being cut off of their health care.”

Both women said that Mr. Obama would be such a partner for their states and for Ohio.

Governor Napolitano said that 95 percent of taxpayers would see a tax reduction under Mr. Obama’s plan. She said that in contrast to Mr. McCain’s call for increased drilling, “a big part of the Obama economic plan is to get a handle on energy and to diversify the types of energy we use” — including solar and wind power, and to “make better use of the oil in the wells that have already been drilled.”

Governor Sebelius noted that Mr. Obama’s grandparents and mother were Kansans.

“So I know something about the values and vision he was raised with — roll up your sleeves, looking to the future, knowing the transformational value of education,” she said. “That’s what sets his moral compass every day.”

... Jeannine Lassiter, 52, of Millbury said she came away with information she can use when she speaks about why she supports Mr. Obama.

“Now I can go and talk to my girls at work and the people who are misinformed,” said Ms. Lassister, who works at Kroger on Woodville Road. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there.”

Alice Cox, 67, of Millbury and her sister, Catherine Crampton, 71, of Rossford, were impressed.

“I really liked those governors,” Ms. Cox said.

From the Herlad Net:

[Barack] Obama addressed Machinists at their national convention in Florida on Friday. The senator from Illinois had received the union's endorsement on Monday. Speaking via satellite, Obama assured striking Boeing Machinists in Washington, Oregon and Kansas that he supports their cause.

"I stand with you because what you're fighting for isn't unreasonable -- what you're fighting for is a fair shot at the American dream," Obama said. "It's the idea that your government shouldn't stand idly by while your job is shipped overseas."

About 24,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers here in the Puget Sound have been on strike since last Saturday. One of the union's major concerns in rejecting the Boeing Co.'s three-year contract offer is job security. The Machinists point to Boeing's supplier troubles on its delayed 787 Dreamliner jet as reason the company should bring back some of its outsourced work.

Obama suggested that Republican presidential nominee McCain would reward companies that move jobs offshore. Boeing's corporate headquarters are in Obama's home state of Illinois.

"The very companies that shipped their jobs overseas have been rewarded with billions of dollars in tax breaks that John McCain supports and plans to continue," Obama said. "So when American workers hear John McCain talk about putting country first, it's fair to ask: Which country?"

McCain often has been a source of Machinists' anger in regards to Boeing's bid to win a multibillion dollar deal supplying the Air Force with aerial refueling tankers. The Arizona senator blocked an early scandal-plagued contract awarded to Boeing. In doing so, McCain has said he saved American taxpayers billions of dollars.

Just this week, the Department of Defense halted the latest competition to replace the Air Force's aging tanker fleet. Boeing had protested successfully the Air Force's award of the contract to Northrop Grumman and its partner EADS, parent company of Airbus. The Pentagon had hoped to hold an expedited competition and name the winner before the next president takes office. Boeing had pitched a tanker based on the Everett-built 767 commercial jet for the contract.

Two McCain campaign staffers had done lobbying work for EADS before joining up with the Republican nominee.

"John McCain just doesn't get it," Obama told the Machinists. "Just ask your brothers and sisters at Boeing. Because while it was right for the Pentagon to cancel competition yesterday for the next generation of tankers, it was wrong for John McCain to reward two of the Washington lobbyists who worked against Boeing with jobs on his campaign."

Morning News September 8, 2008

2008-11-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Flynn - Monday September 8 2008 08:54:28 AM

From Reuters:

Both presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain said on Sunday they see the federal takeover of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as necessary.
... Obama, in Chicago, said that the step was necessary to prevent a deeper economic crisis and he would be reviewing the Treasury plan.

"Given the substantial role that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play in our housing system, I believe that some form of intervention is necessary to prevent a larger and deeper crisis throughout our entire economy," Obama said in a statement.

The U.S. government on Sunday seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, quasi-public mortgage companies which own or guarantee almost half of the country's $12 trillion in outstanding home mortgage debt, in what could be the largest financial bailout in U.S. history. ... Obama said the plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needed to focus on strengthening the economy and helping struggling homeowners rather than focusing on "the whims of lobbyists and special interests."

From the Lynchburg News and Advance:

New voters have been registering at a brisk pace that’s going to get faster as the Oct. 6 registration deadline nears, Central Virginia registrars say.

Students are expected to file lots of applications during campus registration drives, said Patricia Bower, voter registrar in Lynchburg, which has three college campuses.

...Statewide, newly registered voters already account for 5 percent of the people on the rolls, according to figures from the State Board of Elections.

Nearly half of Virginia’s almost 223,000 registrations since Jan. 1 were filed by people age 25 or younger, said Valarie Jones, deputy secretary of the State Board of Elections.

...Although Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has mobilized an army of staffers and volunteers to register new voters — and encourage them to turn out on Election Day — the results won’t be analyzed until at least a day after the Nov. 4 election.

“We just can’t get caught up on our work,” said Bowers, Lynchburg’s registrar.

The applications are “coming in faster than we can get them in” to the computer system, Bowers said.

From the Chillicothe Gazette:

Typical campaign volunteers make phone calls, volunteer at the local office, and even do some door-to-door canvassing.

While Dottie Fay does all that, this year she added a new task - campaign get-togethers at her home.

"We didn't do anything like this in 2004," she said. "It's a fresh approach."

Fay invited friends, family and neighbors to her home to have an informal discussion with Brady Quirk-Garvan, Chillicothe's field organizer for presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

"I feel like there's a lot of important issues we need to discuss like this, out in the open," she said.

The approach may be new to politics, but to the Barack Obama campaign, it fits right in with their "grassroots" approach. Quirk-Garvan said the meetings help to spread the message more effectively than any radio or TV commercial could.

"I do about two or three of these a week," Quirk- Garvan said.

...As for the upcoming campaign, Fay said she will continue to work hard for Obama, and currently volunteers to make phone calls on behalf of the campaign, as a former Hillary Clinton supporter, she said the transition was easy.

"Whoever wins the Presidency will get to appoint a judge on the Supreme Court," she said. "And I don't want the social agenda of the Republicans to take away my rights."