John McCain’s age is a taboo subject for Obama. Let’s leave it to the GOP candidate to tell the story.
Today is John McCain’s 72nd birthday. If elected president in November he will be the oldest man to assume the office. Barack Obama is 47 years old.
From the beginning of the current campaign the press has been reluctant to talk about the issue of age. But as columnist and talk-radio host Bill Press has noted, McCain is doing a fine job all by himself in making age an issue in the campaign.
McCain has repeatedly referred to the nation of Czechoslovakia, which hasn’t existed since 1993. He has called Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin the president of Germany. He has talked about hostilities along the Iraq/Pakistan border, where no such border exists. He referred to the crisis in Darfur as being in Somalia when in fact it is in Sudan. He confused Sunnis and Shiites on a recent visit to Iraq. He can’t even remember how many homes he owns. Brit Hume of conservative Fox News charitably referred to McCain’s verbal stumbles as “senior moments.” (Click Here to Read More)
Nationwide there are 2.1 million American Indians of voting age. Native Americans make up only one percent of the total U.S. electorate.
Historically, American Indians have had very low rates of voter registration and turnout. On some American Indian reservations in the western United States as few as 10 percent of all eligible voters are registered.
But in several states the American Indian vote, if mobilized by the Obama campaign, could give a good boost to Obama’s efforts to carry the state. (Click Here to Read More)
The federal minimum wage is now $6.55 per hour. This will rise to $7.25 an hour in July 2009. Many states have their own minimum wage laws. In California, Massachusetts, and Washington, the minimum wage is $8 or more.
A worker employed at minimum wage who has a 40-hour workweek would earn $262 a week. On a yearly basis this amounts to $13,624. The official poverty rate in the United States for a four-person family is $20,614. Therein lies a powerful voting weapon for Barack Obama and Democratic candidates everywhere.
Minimum wage workers are concentrated in service industries. Fast-food workers, waitresses, car washers, hotel chamber maids, janitors, and retail clerks are some of the jobs where you will find large numbers of minimum wage workers. About half of all minimum wage workers are below the age of 25. More than 62 percent of the American workers who earn the minimum wage are women.
Throughout his legislative career John McCain has been a relentless opponent of raising the minimum wage. Without fail McCain has followed the wishes of industry while ignoring the economic interests of the nation’s lowest-income workers. (Click Here to Read More)
In 2004 President Bush carried the state of New Mexico by a mere 6,000 votes. Nearly 800,000 votes were cast. Four years earlier in 2000, Al Gore won New Mexico by a razor-thin margin of only 366 votes. Polls in New Mexico show that once again the race is tight. This year New Mexico’s five electoral votes could decide the nationwide presidential election.
The key to Obama’s winning the state of New Mexico lies in increasing voter turnout among Latinos. There are 450,000 eligible Hispanic-American voters in New Mexico. They make up about one third of the total electorate in the state. In 2004 the number of Hispanics who chose not to vote was at least 20 times Bush’s margin of victory in the state. (Click Here to Read More)
Given his age and the fact that there are more than 700,000 retirees living in his home state of Arizona, one would expect that McCain would be a strong supporter of the nation’s Medicare program for senior citizens. Nothing could be further from the truth.
McCain has a highly damaging voting record on Medicare and other healthcare programs for the elderly. This makes him extremely vulnerable to voting citizens who care about or depend on Medicare. Nationwide, there are 36 million senior citizens in this country and they tend to vote in much larger percentages than the rest of the electorate.
Undoubtedly, too, there are another 50 million or more voting adult age children of seniors who are deeply concerned about the strength and reliability of the Medicare system.
Over his 22-year Senate career McCain has voted against Medicare programs more than 25 times. He has opposed adding funds to the program. He has supported efforts that would raise the age of eligibility for Medicare benefits. He has opposed increasing Medicare benefits for cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. McCain has voted to reduce home healthcare payments for Medicare patients. He has opposed increasing Medicare payments to hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of low-income patients. (Click Here to Read More)
Most agree that Barack Obama made a good choice in selecting Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden’s long experience in the Senate, his impressive foreign policy credentials, his Catholic faith, and working-class background all fill holes in Obama’s resume.
Now the question is, how can Biden provide fresh voter appeal heretofore missing in the Obama campaign?
Obama has always had a serious problem relating to working-class voters. His replies to Pastor Rick Warren last week were long, tendentious, and skillfully nuanced. McCain, on the other hand, gave crisp and definitive answers to unanswerable questions. End result: It didn’t matter who was speaking closer to the truth. Obama sounded like a pointy-headed intellectual who blue-collar voters like to mock and McCain gets praised for his certainty and quick thinking. (Click Here to Read More)
In recent weeks, nationwide polls have shown a definite trend in favor of John McCain. One poll released Wednesday put McCain ahead of Obama nationwide by 5 percentage points. Numerous state polls report McCain is reversing Obama’s lead or is severely cutting into his margins.
McCain’s negative campaign advertisements referring to Obama as a “celebrity” rather than a leader appear to be helping the GOP candidate. Also, Russia’s invasion of the nation of Georgia has raised international tensions. A majority of American voters hold to beliefs that McCain would be a better commander in chief than Obama.
But Obama staffers remain optimistic. In their official assurances that some observers see as brash or overly cocky, Obama’s surrogates tell party regulars that all is well. They say, “Don’t worry, the polls don’t reflect the ‘X factor.’” (Click Here to Read More)
Since 1976, the U.S. government has provided billions of dollars each year to help low-income youngsters pay for college. But over a long career John McCain has cast at least 26 Senate votes that would weaken or undermine access to the Pell Grant program.
Today there are 2 million Hispanic youngsters in college and 15 million Hispanic children who have not reached college age. If elected president, John McCain’s opposition to the Pell Grant program would severely blight the higher education prospects of the children of 20 million Hispanic adults in the United States.
This fall, Hispanic parents and other Latino voters should use their immense numbers to deny the presidency to McCain.
A dedicated and well-organized voting bloc of 20 million Hispanic-American citizens, all fully informed of the severe burdens John McCain’s pernicious policies are inflicting on millions of their children and grandchildren, could end the contest and finally deliver the White House to Barack Obama. (Click Here to Read More)
Over the past half-century, Ohio has been the nation’s most reliable bellwether state. In each presidential election since 1960, Ohio has backed the winning candidate. In 2004 the voting percentages for Bush and Kerry exactly matched the nationwide vote totals. And Ohio is especially important because it carries a major prize — 20 electoral votes.
Today, polls show that the race between Barack Obama and John McCain is neck and neck in Ohio. The polling trend has been moving in McCain’s favor.
Obama enjoys monolithic support among black voters in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and other Ohio cities. But Obama’s polling numbers in rural Ohio are very weak. In the Democratic primaries, he was beaten badly in these areas by Hillary Clinton.
The election in Ohio — and quite possibly the entire nation — could hinge on Obama’s success in convincing white working-class voters that he would be a better president than John McCain. In securing these votes, Obama must hammer home to voters the fact that Ohio has been hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs over the eight years of the Bush presidency. (Click Here to Read More)
The Democratic Party made an astute choice in picking Denver, Colorado, as the site for this year’s national convention. As political parties generally do, the Democrats picked an area of the country where their fortunes are on the rise and where they see a chance to switch a traditionally Republican state to their column. By holding their convention in Minneapolis, the GOP has a similar goal for Minnesota.
The four-day Denver convention opens next Monday.
Colorado traditionally has been a red state in presidential elections but Democrats have made major inroads in statewide elections in recent years. One reason for the Democrats’ recent success in Colorado is because of a major increase in Hispanic voters in the state. There are now more than 400,000 eligible Hispanic voters in Colorado making up 12 percent of the total voting age population. As many as 150,000 remain unregistered to vote. (Click Here to Read More)
