RALEIGH, N.C. – Barack Obama accused Republican rival John McCain on Wednesday of stooping to low tactics by labeling the Democrat a socialist. "I don't know what's next," Obama, the presidential candidate, said at an outdoor rally in North Carolina. "By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
Obama turned to ridicule to rebut McCain's daily references to Obama's encounter with "Joe the Plumber." McCain has capitalized on a moment when Obama told an Ohio plumber that he wanted to "spread the wealth around" by boosting taxes on wealthier people to finance a middle class tax cut.
The rally in North Carolina's capitol opened a day when Obama will be a one-man television blitz, saturating prime-time with a 30-minute ad and popping up on late-night TV scene. He is also giving an interview to a prominent network news anchor, and appearing with fellow Democratic star Bill Clinton at a rally timed to hit the late-evening news.
The 30-minute infomercial is Obama's final opportunity to reach a mass audience to discuss his principles of governing. Obama's proposals will be showcased through the stories of four different Americans who illustrate specific national challenges and how Obama would address them, the campaign said.
Obama himself will speak in the video — at times with a group of voters, at others directly to the audience. The 30 minutes will end by cutting to a live appearance by Obama in Kissimmee, Fla., though the campaign said that would be a small portion of the half-hour video.
The video features footage shot by Davis Guggenheim, the director and executive producer of former Vice President Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth." Guggenheim, the son of award-winning filmmaker Charles Guggenheim, also was a producer and director on the HBO series "Deadwood."
In Raleigh, Obama painted a bleak picture of a McCain presidency. He said voters would get no help paying for college, see their health benefits taxed, and watch tax relief go to the rich.
"So whether you are Suzy the student, or Nancy the nurse, or Tina the teacher, or Carl the construction worker, if my opponent is elected, you will be worse off four years from now than you are today," Obama said. "Let's cut through the negative ads and the phony attacks."
McCain, trailing in the pools with time dwindling, has tried to boost his chances by hammering Obama's tax plan. Obama says he wants to give a tax cut to 95 percent of taxpayers, but McCain says Obama and Democrats in Congress will wind up taxing the middle class.
Obama's counterpunch came amid new poll data in his favor.
An AP-GfK poll shows Obama leading in four key states won by President Bush in 2004 and essentially tied with McCain in two other Republican states — North Carolina and Florida, where Obama campaigned Wednesday.
With six days until the election, Obama was on the offensive in North Carolina, which Bush won twice by double digits. No Democratic presidential candidate has won it since Jimmy Carter.
McCain spent the day defending his position in Florida, the most valuable swing state with 27 electoral votes and another place Bush won twice. McCain is scrambling to hang onto states Bush won to have any chance of pulling an upset.
Obama, meanwhile, is trying to win over voters from the comfort of their couches.
His prime-time ad is rare, and costly. The Obama team bought time on CBS, NBC and Fox for about $1 million per network. The spot airs at 8 p.m. EDT. It is also scheduled to run on Univision, BET, MSNBC and TV One.
Flush with cash, Obama has used his record-shattering fundraising to by buy media time in ways McCain cannot.
McCain also is purchasing loads of ad time. But Obama has been able to spend in more states than McCain, appear more frequently in key markets and diversify his messages — some positive, some negative.
Obama's latest ad, unfurled Wednesday, was a negative 30-second spot aimed at key states that uses McCain's own words against him and mocks GOP running mate Sarah Palin. It shows McCain acknowledging in three quotes, one from 2005 and two from 2007, that he knows less about economic matters than other issues. In the last quote, McCain says he might have to rely on his vice president for expertise — and then the spot cuts to a winking Palin.
McCain countered with his own new ad, dismissing Obama's infomercial as a "TV special."
"Behind the fancy speeches, grand promises and TV special, lies the truth," the McCain ad's announcer says. "With crises at home and abroad, Barack Obama lacks the experience America needs. And it shows. His response to our economic crisis is to spend and tax our economy deeper into recession. The fact is Barack Obama's not ready yet."
Obama on Wednesday will give an interview to Charlie Gibson of ABC's "World News" and tape an appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," which will air at 11 p.m. EDT.
___
Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this story from Washington.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGWdjc
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment