Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
As a new poll showed Barack Obama narrowly ahead of John McCain in Virginia, the Democratic presidential nominee campaigned Wednesday in two critical areas of the state, stressing national security at a Richmond forum and rallying boisterous crowds with populist themes at rallies there and in Leesburg.
The three stops just 13 days before the election underscored Virginia's status as a critical battleground in the contest. Obama used the stops to reassure military-minded voters about his judgment on security issues and to exhort supporters to stay focused on turning out a big vote.
Flanked by 15 of his national security advisers, Obama stood behind a podium adorned with a sign that read "Judgment to Lead" as he spoke Wednesday morning at a Richmond hotel. He shrugged off Republican attempts to exploit recent comments by his running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, that world leaders would challenge a President Obama during his first months in office.
Biden is known for occasional "rhetorical flourishes," Obama said. His larger point was "whoever the next president is, (he is) going to have to deal with a whole host of challenges internationally."
While several national polls show Obama leading the presidential race - analysts attribute those results to some voters' belief that the Illinois senator is better on the economy - McCain still gets higher marks on national security questions.
A Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war, McCain has sought to paint Obama as naive and unprepared to deal with global leaders.
"It's not leadership for Barack Obama to promise to be straight with Americans, only to dismiss serious statements and concern from his own running mate as simple 'rhetorical flourishes,' " McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in response to Obama's national security remarks.
Engulfed in an economic crisis, many Americans say that international concerns have been trumped by domestic ones. And since the market downturn began, Obama's poll numbers have climbed.
"We can't afford a president who ignores the fundamentals of our economy while we're running up a deficit to fight a war without end in Iraq," said Obama, linking the nation's security to its economic fate. "We must be strong at home to be strong abroad."
Later Wednesday, Obama faced a larger, friendlier crowd during an afternoon rally in the Richmond Coliseum. That rally drew an estimated 12,900 attendees indoors, and 7,000 ringing the streets around the arena, the Richmond Fire Marshal's office said.
Thousands more braved chilly air near dusk to hear him at a park in Leesburg, a suburb on the outskirts of the Washington metropolitan area that is fast becoming a Democratic stronghold.
"He's wonderful. He's great for the economy. He's great for the middle class," said Trish Poe of Warrenton. Obama "has a great temperament. He doesn't seem to get upset or worried about anything," she said.
A native of Ireland, Poe said she's lived in the United States for 22 years but became a citizen just three years ago; her vote for Obama will be her first in an American election.
A huge influx of such new voters, more from other states than overseas, is helping drive the Democratic surge in Northern Virginia and fueling Obama's hope that he can be the first Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to carry the state.
At his Richmond and Leesburg rallies Wednesday, Obama spoke of greater access to health care, money for college tuition, middle-class tax cuts, and tax credits for companies that hire more workers, drawing roars of approval.
On the subject of Joe the plumber, Obama said he has no problem with the Ohio man who recently asked him about his tax plan. Republicans said Obama's response to the man about spreading wealth to more people smacked of socialism.
"Joe's cool.... All I want to do is give Joe a tax cut," Obama said. "John McCain likes to talk about Joe the plumber, but he's in cahoots with Joe the CEO."
Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com
Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com
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williamw
"You must be a liberal democrat judging from your past posts."
And listening to your comments about Obama and trying to make a federal case out of his middle name makes me think you are either filled with hate, or are totally uninfromed.
It took me a long time to decide Obama was my choice, and the decision was not made litely. The more I listen to McCain and Sarah Palin (for God sakes) the more I have made the right decision.
Last time I checked liberal democrat was not a four letter word.
VIRGINIANS: MAKE AMERICA SAFER
The Washington Times ran an eye-opening article that an Al-Qaeda-linked group backs McCain as president! It said “The message…on the password-protected al-Hesbah Web site, said if al-Qaida wants to exhaust the U.S. militarily and economically, "impetuous" Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Over 4,000 brave Americans have given their lives in response to the terrorist attacks of 9-11, yet Osama bin Laden remains at large. The Iraqi invasion was the best recruiting tool in the history of Al Qaeda. It’s counter-intuitive, but it is Barack Obama and Joe Biden who will execute intelligent, even-handed policies to make us safer, regain the confidence of global allies and hit bin Laden and Al Qaeda where it hurts! Vote Obama-Biden for a safer America!
igorance
The purchase of bank stock by the feds - sponsored by Bush, orchestrated by Henry Paulson and supported by McCain - is also socialist.
Wow - you republicans are incredibly ignorant of the facts.
McShame contradicting
CSH - perhaps you're forgetting that McCain does alot of contradicting and double speaking himself. perhaps you just dont want to hear the truth and instead continue to spread the lies.
McCain's angry denunciation of socialist wealth-spreading ignores the fact that the country has always had a progressive tax code. McCain himself once seemed to embrace the sensible notion that those who reap greater rewards should contribute more back.
"I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans," he said in voting against the 2001 Bush tax cuts.
When McCain inveighs against Obama's plan to give tax credits to "those who pay none," he ignores the fact that the 40 percent who do not owe income tax still have 7.65 percent taken out in payroll taxes.
Even now, McCain's own health-care plan offers a tax credit to people who owe no income taxes. In Woodbridge, McCain brags about his own "refundable tax credit" to help people purchase insurance -- just minutes after assailing Obama's refundable credit as a "government giveaway."
The purchase of bank stock by the feds - spo
re: republicans
And it's that kind of blind biggotry that keeps tensions high between blacks and whites, Jerry.
Guess I'm Just a Socialist
What is so wrong to have Social Security and Medicare? What's wrong with military retirees receiving retirement pay? We worked and served and earned these benefits, all of which have been historically opposed by republicans. To quote Sen. Obama, all republicans care about is "Joe the CEO".
Medicare and Social Security worked for my father and mother and now it's working for me. It also works for my children who can use their funds to care for their own kids. Everybody wins, including merchant's with whom we spend our retirement money. Doctors are happy because they actually get paid for their services. Medicare should be improved instead of being enervated as McCain/Palin have advocated. When they talk about reducing entitlements, it is YOUR benefits they are talking about. Sen. McCain even wanted to invest Social Security funds in the stock market! What a great idea!
We could be using the $10 BILLION per month that we are pouring into Iraq to care for our own needs. Maybe even give our military heros a pay raise.
Northpoint-Vet
What would Ronald Reagan say?
The comments from McCain supporters here illustrate not only how ugly and vicious the republican party has become, but how desperate they are to hold onto power.
Ronald Reagan asked the right questions in 1980 and he is asking the right questions now. This is the republican party before it became a zookeeper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqfedYAAGEI
re: obama schedule
pammos wrote:
why turn right around and do the opposite of what you said? just wondering....
If BHO is elected, get used to it. The big "change" he keeps speaking of will be, mainly, his mind on what he's promised.
Anyone who believes he will "cut the taxes of 95% of Americans" is uninformed as over 40% of Americans pay no tax. I'd like to know where he received his education in mathematics, certainly not Harvard.
Listen to the man and if you have a modicum of intelligence [or elementary education], you'll understand he cannot give what he's promising without raising taxes for everyone or move to a complete socialist system of government.
As an old friend used to say, "Facts is facts."
General Powell vs Palin
Less than two weeks before the election and still no answers from Gov. Palin other than her seeing Russia from her window, and a bunch of rhetoric from her cheerleader Limbaugh. Sen. McCain does not make him self more credible by trying to talk him self out of his bad judgment relying on his lobbyists and selecting his VP pick and by the way he handled the economy. I have to hear a single solution. The US is not even leading the economic crisis, the English have taken over from Bush Jr. McCain needs to get rid off the people that are surrounding him starting with his VP if he wants to restore his credibility.
I rather see a bi-partisan Obama administration with the most qualified Americans in the country, incl. Warren Buffett, Chuck Hagel, Dick Lugar, and General Colin Powell after 16 years of war in Washington DC.
Obama has plenty of experience
Obama has more government experience(10 years) than all but 20 of our former presidents. That is why Colin Powell and most the former Secretaries of State have endorsed Obama. He is bright, charismatic, and even tempered. Which is more than I can say about McCain.