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Obama Discusses Mortgages As Florida Trip Begins

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By WILLIAM MARCH

wmarch@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2008

Updated: 10/21/2008 12:46 am

TAMPA - In a state ravaged by plunging home values and foreclosures, where early voting started Monday, Barack Obama hit both subjects hard at a rally in Tampa.

There was good reason for Obama to talk about both as he began blanketing Florida with three days of campaign appearances.

Getting his supporters to the polls now means he won't have to worry as much about what his Florida staff members say is their top concern when it comes to winning the state: possible voting problems on Election Day.

Florida is close to ground zero in the housing crisis, with one of the nation's worst foreclosure rates and an economy heavily dependent on real estate values.

Obama, acknowledging he's a Chicago White Sox fan, still had six Tampa Bay Rays on stage with him Monday: David Price, Fernando Perez, Carl Crawford, Cliff Floyd, Jonny Gomes and Edwin Jackson.

Although cheering his guests, Obama blasted his opponents, John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin, for what he called a negative campaign and fostering divisiveness.

"There are no real or fake parts of this country," he said. "We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this country."

"We have always been at our best when we've had leadership that calls on us to look past our differences and come together."

That was a reference to controversial comments by Palin, who said in North Carolina that she was glad to be in a "pro-America" part of the country, and a McCain campaign adviser who said the Washington suburbs weren't part of "the real Virginia."

Obama spent much of his speech to about 8,000 at Steinbrenner Field talked about his proposals for relief for homeowners, including:

• A three-month moratorium on foreclosures for homeowners who are making a "good-faith effort" to pay off a mortgage on a primary residence.

• A new law allowing bankruptcy judges to order renegotiation of mortgages on residences.

Focusing on the economy for more than half of his speech, Obama also said his plan for tax relief would help the middle class most.

He said that under his proposal, anyone making less than $250,000 a year would get a tax cut. "That includes 98 percent of small-business owners. And it includes, I'm pretty sure, 99.9 percent of plumbers."

Right now, the race in Florida looks like a tossup, with a small advantage in polls for Obama. Both sides claimed confidence in their prospects Monday.

The Obama campaign said it's relying on hundreds of thousands of new voters in Florida and a sophisticated voter turnout system Florida Democrats haven't previously had.

"Obama is organized and has the money" for a field operation, said Sen. Bill Nelson, attending the rally. "Democrats in Florida have never been organized like this. ... This is nirvana for Democrats."

Obama's Florida campaign manager, Steve Schale, said his "biggest concern" is whether the state's election system can handle up to 9 million expected voters, compared with 7.6 million who voted in 2004.

That's one reason Obama is making a campaign commitment to push early voting in three days of Florida events by him, his wife, Michelle, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

"Don't wait until Nov. 4," he urged the crowd. "You don't know what might happen on Nov. 4. Your car might break down. ... The alarm might not go off."

However, Republicans note that young voters, minority voters and new voters - the kind who have swelled the rolls partly in response to Obama's campaign - are less likely to turn out on Election Day.

In a conference call Monday, top McCain operatives said they are relying on zealous volunteers as opposed to hired staff, and their own remarkably effective turnout system: "the same voter turnout program Bush-Cheney used to win Florida in 2004," said Buzz Jacobs, southeast regional campaign manager.

That system focuses on absentee voting, in which Florida Republicans routinely thrash Democrats.

Most analysts now say Obama is winning in more than enough states to produce an Electoral College majority, but Jacobs said he's "confident of bringing home" several states, including Florida, that have leaned Republican in the past but are now listed as tossups or in Obama's column.

He got some evidence for that view late Monday, when a Fox News/Rasmussen poll showed McCain one point ahead in Florida, 49 percent to 48 percent - statistically a tie. That continues a tightening of poll numbers in Florida, like that nationwide.

McCain will be back in the state this week and is tentatively expected to visit Tampa on Thursday.

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.

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