Obama focuses on tight races in Wisc., nearby states
ELECTION '08 | Obama trying to lock up Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan
LA CROSSE, Wis. -- Making his second appearance in Wisconsin in nine days, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama Wednesday renewed what could be called his "Putting out Fires Close to Home" tour.
At one point, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan looked like relatively secure wins for Obama. Then, the polls tightened in those states, making each a toss-up. Most surveys show the Illinois senator leading McCain by three to four points in these states in most polls, and both campaigns are putting in time here.
(AP)
After his stop on Main Street in LaCrosse Wednesday and a trip to Washington, D.C., to vote on the Wall Street bailout package Wednesday, Obama returns Thursday for events in Grand Rapids and East Lansing, Mich.. One poll put Obama 13 points ahead in Michigan, but most polls have the race much closer.
A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Obama holding commanding leads in the vote-rich swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.
Obama's message in La Crosse to a crowd of 15,000, many of them University of Wisconsin at La Crosse students, was that the bailout plan was necessary for all Americans even though it might enrich some of those at fault.
"If your neighbor's house is burning, you might grumble that they were always smoking in bed or leaving the stove on, but you want to make sure the fire doesn't spread to your house," Obama said. "If this is managed correctly, we will hopefully get most or all of our money back, or possibly even turn a profit on the government's investment -- every penny of which will go directly back to you, the investor."
Obama's allies in Illinois have been promising to do all they can to drag Wisconsin across the Democratic finish line, as they have in the past two presidential elections, when the state went Democratic by less than a percentage point. The fact that Wisconsin was John Kerry's narrowest win last time around is part of the reason McCain has targeted Wisconsin, said Curt Reithel, chair of political science at UW La Crosse.
"We like getting all the attention," Reithel. "The electoral college does create a persistent and real distortion in the distribution of campaign attention and resources, which works to the benefit of states like Wisconsin."
At the Cook County Democratic Party's annual banquet in Chicago last week, Mayor Daley and Sen. Dick Durbin exhorted to Illinois Democrats to spend some time ringing doorbells in Wisconsin, since Obama has Illinois pretty much sewed up.
"Take care of all these local races, but then we realize we need to go out and work hard throughout the surrounding states," Durbin said. "If you can take a day -- Saturday, Sunday, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa -- reach out, bring other people to work on this campaign."
At least, Daley urged, make phone calls to the swing states. "All of you, your relatives, friends ... your sons and daughters go to school someplace else ... [voters] need a personal call," he said.
Kenosha, Wis., County Democratic Chair Bryan Miller said the troops are already arriving from Illinois to help turn out the vote here.
"A majority of the volunteers we're going to get on Election Day are probably from Illinois," he said. "We have a six-line phone bank. We just doubled our office space. We've been doing a lot of canvassing. We're never one to turn a volunteer down."
Some of the Obama lines that got the biggest applause here Wednesday were his pledge to create $4,000 tax breaks for college tuition and let the government make direct loans to students instead of going through private banks.
That brought a cheer from UW LaCrosse freshman Kelsey Greenwood, 18, of Baraboo, Wis.
"That sounds like a good idea to me," Greenwood said, admitting she skipped three classes to attend the rally in downtown LaCrosse. "He represents everything that a lot of us stand for."
While Milwaukee and Madison are Democratic bastions, this western part of the state and the northeast section of Green Bay tend sightly Republican, though they are seen as more up for grabs, which is why both campaigns are making a lot of stops here.
Wisconsin residents are disproportionately hunters and some of them are big fans of Republican vice-presidential candidate and hunter Sarah Palin.
"It's a big event in November, when some businesses have to close when a large percentage of their male employees are up somewhere shooting at deer," said Marquette University Prof. John McAdams.
"There's a lot of gun lovers here -- about 40 percent of the respondents in our poll said they own a gun," said UW Madison Prof. Charles Franklin.
But he and the other experts said the issue in Wisconsin is basically the same issue all over the country -- the economy -- and that that's why Obama seems to be slowly gaining back ground here and in the other swing states. The GM plant in Janesville is closing, as is a paper mill closer to LaCrosse.