Obama takes economic message to Wisconsin
JANESVILLE, Wis. -- Barack Obama set his sights here Wednesday on a group of voters who could well determine whether he or Hillary Rodham Clinton is the Democratic presidential nominee.
The setting was a General Motors assembly plant, the subject was the economy, and the audience was mostly plant workers. Their workforce is shrinking, and another 300 layoffs are planned for spring. Just Tuesday, their company announced a $38.7 billion loss in 2007 — the largest ever for a U.S. automaker.
For most of the primary season, Clinton has dominated among voters who make less than $50,000 and those who consider the economy the top issue facing the country. The setting and substance of Obama's speech reflected upcoming primaries in Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania, all states where swaths of voters are experiencing economic hardship or uncertainty.
Obama revisited many proposals he made months ago, on subjects including health care, tax breaks, pension security and a "green energy" jobs plan as well as helping people save money, go to college, care for sick children, avoid foreclosure and stay out of debt. "This agenda is paid for," he said, by savings from ending the Iraq war, closing corporate tax loopholes, ending "George Bush's tax cuts" for the wealthy and other measures.
The Clinton campaign quickly noted that Obama's major new component, a 10-year, $60 billion "national infrastructure reinvestment bank," resembles a proposal Clinton made in August.
Obama strategist David Axelrod made no bones about recycling material. "We've been talking about the economy from the beginning," he said. "The difference is people are listening now, and we're going to take advantage of that."
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said the two-week break after Wisconsin helps both candidates. "It gives her time to not have to be right on top of his momentum" and it gives him time to become better known among low-income voters, especially women, she said.
"They've had a lot of change in the last 10 years, and it hasn't all been good," Lake said, so they need to know what changes Obama wants and how he'd get there.
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