Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008

Obama leads in 3 of 4 key Bush counties

Barack Obama has erased traditional Republican advantages in four key bellwether counties that President George W. Bush won in 2000 and 2004, according to a new Politico/InsiderAdvantage survey. Each county is critical to the outcome in the battleground state where it is located.

In Reno, Nevada's Washoe County, Obama leads McCain by a 46-45 percent margin, with six percent undecided. Obama posts a wider 50-44 percent lead with five percent undecided in Raleigh, North Carolina's Wake County, and another 6-point lead in Hillsborough County, Fla., where Tampa is located. There, he edges McCain 47-41 percent, with 11 percent undecided.

Among the four counties tested, McCain leads in only one: Jefferson County, Colo., a populous Denver suburb. McCain is ahead there by a margin of 45-43 percent, with eight percent undecided.
 

Obama details plan for economy;
McCain launches 'comeback' stump speech

OBAMA:

After weeks of offering mainly generalities about the financial crisis on Wall Street, Mr. Obama used a campaign stop in Toledo, Ohio, to lay out a $60 billion plan that would include a 90-day foreclosure moratorium for certain homeowners and allow Americans to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without penalty through the end of next year.

He also called for a $3,000 tax credit for each additional full-time job a business creates. That means a business that adds five jobs would get a $15,000 break. That incentive would end after 2010 and would cost $40 billion, the campaign estimates.

see also:

Obama's new economic plan includes proposal he previously called 'disastrous'

McCAIN:

Mr. McCain energetically declared that his underdog status left him positioned to surprise the prognosticators just as he did in the primaries.

"My friends, we've got them just where we want them," the smiling candidate told thousands of cheering supporters at a rally in the battleground state of Virginia, a once-reliable red state that is now tilting blue.

"Let me give you the state of the race today: We have 22 days to go. We're six points down. The national media has written us off. Senator Obama is measuring the drapes," Mr. McCain said in Virginia Beach, where he was joined by his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin.

Whipping the crowd into a frenzy, he yelled: "Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. America is worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

see also:

McCain seeks one more story line

Obama tells unemployed plumber
his plan is to "spread the wealth around"

ACORN registered Mickey Mouse to vote:

Orange County elections officials rejected his application, which was stamped with the logo of the nonprofit group ACORN..

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