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Obama Woos Middle Class

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The Associated Press

Published: September 28, 2008

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to score a quick post-debate advantage Saturday by traveling to two Republican-leaning states and accusing GOP rival John McCain of being out of touch with middle-class Americans.

"We talked about the economy for 40 minutes and not once did Sen. McCain talk about the struggles middle-class families are having," Obama told more than 26,000 people in the rain on the campus of the University of Mary Washington.

Obama monitored by phone the congressional negotiations on a deal on stabilizing U.S. financial markets. Aides said he spoke to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., as negotiators inched toward a deal.

"Unlike Sen. McCain, it didn't take a crisis on Wall Street for me to realize that people are hurting," Obama said.

Earlier in the day, Obama debuted his post-debate attack on McCain with a campaign swing through North Carolina, another traditionally Republican state where Obama hopes to make inroads.

The Illinois senator repeatedly took McCain to task for not talking about any plans for helping the middle class in the country's financial crisis.

"Through 90 minutes of debate, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he didn't have anything to say about you," Obama told the cheering 20,000-plus crowd in downtown Greensboro. "He didn't even say the words 'middle class.' He didn't even say the words 'working people.'"

Appearing with Obama on Saturday, running mate Joe Biden called McCain's judgment on every important issue "wrong."

"At this moment in history, we need more than a brave soldier. We need a wise leader, and that man is Barack Obama," said Biden, a Delaware senator.

In Michigan, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigned for her ex-rival, saying that Republicans shouldn't be rewarded "for what they have done to our country."

"We cannot turn over our country with these deep deficits, with these serious economic problems, with the international challenges, to the same team that got us into this mess in the first place," Clinton told more than 1,000 people gathered at a park in Grand Ledge, Mich., the first of three campaign stops scheduled in the state.

"There's no doubt in anyone's mind that Sen. Obama understands the economic challenges we face."

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