12:37 p.m. McCain’s exiting now. Nothing much new, and he’s exiting to the (CLICHE ALERT! CLICHE ALERT!) the Rocky theme. McCain’s not learning much from Clinton’s failures. She invoked Rocky but forget the movie involves a white boxer who went toe-to-toe but did not defeat the charismatic African-American champion with a funny name.
12:33 p.m. WOW! McCain says he would not allow drilling in ANWR, saying “I would not drill in the Grand Canyon and I would not drill in the Everglades.” Pushes instead for off-shore drilling in California and Florida, but why exactly is that any different just because it’s an ocean and not land. Why does land get more protection than the ocean? There’s an answer, and I just want to hear it.
12:27 p.m. Interesting. On an answer for what he has to offer to disenchanted Hillary supporters, McCain offers nothing in policy to them. Just that he puts country above party. I don’t expect a flood of Clinton supporters to back McCain (a few will) because it won’t take long to see what Clinton stood for is very close to what Obama wants, and McCain just said there are very “deep seeded” differences between him and the Illinois Democrat.
12:15 p.m. He’s advocating for school choice and vouchers now. He’s also saying not to scrap No Child Left Behind, calling it a “landmark” piece of legislation. He said the 30 charter schools in New Orleans are creating competition for public education, and McCain wants to give every parent the chance to send their kids to a private school no matter what their income.
12:05 p.m. McCain explains he voted against the Farm Bill because it provided tens of millions of dollars in subsidies for the thoroughbred industry and other wealthy agriculture sectors. “It’s giving people who are very wealthy additional dollars of your money when we have Americans struggling to keep their homes and find a job,” he said.
12:00 p.m. McCain says he would support sanctions against Iran if they go after nuclear weapons, but he mentions nothing about military options.
11:52 a.m. McCain said, “I’d rather lose a political race than lose a war.” There’s the message I was talking about in a previous post. McCain’s presidential hopes will live or die on his views regarding Iraq, kind of like Rick Santorum in 2006 who decided he would go down talking about the fear of Islamic radicalism rather than change his hawkish view on it.
11:50 a.m. Here comes McCain’s dual message on war, and I think a hard sell on Iraq. “Veterans hate war,” he said (paraphrase), which I don’t doubt, but he’s also advocating for a stay-the-course strategy in Iraq, an unpopular war.
11:46 a.m. He’s suggesting Obama’s like Hoover in the 1930s, implementing higher taxes and protectionist policies, which as McCain said, “Sent us from a recession into a depression.”
11:44 a.m. McCain’s talking about boosting nuclear energy in America by pointing out the French generate 80 percent of their electricity with nuclear power. Sounds interesting, but America needs a more diverse energy profile than the French.
11:37 a.m. McCain just hit Obama for pledging to raise taxes, but Obama is saying he’ll raise taxes on those who make $250,000 or more annually. Most of the people in this room would receive a $1,000 tax cut if Obama’s plan would be implemented.
11:34 a.m. Predicts he’ll win Pennsylvania and will go to small towns in this Commonwealth to … Bittergate reference coming … to say he doesn’t agree with Obama about them clinging to religion and guns.
11:32 a.m.McCain’s on stage with his wife Cindy, who’s got a sparking pearl necklace on. Wonder how many beers that cost and whether McCain would veto any of those “beers” (see previous postings).
11:23 a.m. We’re going to hear a lot about the economy today. Here’s how the New York Times sees it today:
Mr. McCain, who once opposed the Bush tax cuts in part because they favored the wealthy, has now made extending those cuts a central plank in his economic plan, which is based largely on the Republican credo that tax reductions stimulate the economy. And he is pushing another strain of fiscal conservatism that has not been much in evidence of late: a call for smaller government and a vow to cut pork-barrel spending.
He often adds a dash of populism, speaking against excessive corporate pay packages on Tuesday, and has pushed for a gasoline-tax reprieve. And while Mr. McCain has portrayed his tax cuts as benefiting the middle class, most of the benefits would go to the wealthy and to corporations, including his calls for the elimination of the alternative minimum tax.
Mr. Obama often speaks of the traditional liberal goal of trying to redistribute the tax burden to reduce economic inequality, and at least in his public pronouncements has not emphasized the market-friendly, deficit-reduction aspects of the economic approach credited to former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin in the 1990s. Mr. Obama’s plan would raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 by allowing Mr. Bush’s tax cuts on top earners to expire, and he has signaled that he would consider increasing the current cap on income subject to the Social Security payroll tax.
He has also proposed, for instance, more spending on providing access to health care, which critics say would widen the deficit when coupled with tax cuts. While Mr. McCain asserted in a speech in Washington on Tuesday that under Mr. Obama’s tax plan Americans of every background would see their taxes rise, Mr. Obama’s plan calls for cutting taxes on people earning less than $75,000 a year and for eliminating federal income taxes on elderly citizens who make less than $50,000 a year.
11:15 a.m. Just chatted with Andrew Romano, who runs an excellent blog at Newsweek. You can find it here. Excellent reporter, excellent writer, one of the first to point out Clinton’s erroneous mathematics on the popular vote claim.
11:01 a.m.From CNN.com, and I’m here to tell you there is no evidence of green on the stage. McCain’s back to his blue and yellow backdrop:
Following a harsh press assessment of John McCain’s recent formal speeches delivered before a teleprompter, the Arizona senator is returning to a format in which he is decidedly more comfortable.
McCain is slated to hold a town-hall with voters in Philadelphia Wednesday and hold town halls with voters for the rest of the week. McCain’s event in Philadelphia was originally planned to be a scripted speech, but the campaign scrapped those plans after a wave of harsh critiques over a bright green screen that backed him last Tuesday, and the stiffness of his delivery when using a teleprompter.
10:58 a.m.Now that the Starbucks caffeine has kicked in, let’s talk about McCain’s decision to speak in Philadelphia for his first general election visit.
My first reaction: What the heck is he doing?
Pennsylvania is supposedly a swing state, but there’s some debate about that. Assuming that it is, the more visits to he makes to Pennsylvania the better his chances of securing the Keystone’s vital 21 delegates. McCain’s cultivated a maverick reputation and someone who runs head on into adversity, but choosing Philadelphia is curious even by that standard. Obama’s chief support during the April 22 Democratic primary came right here. This is the wellspring of blue that makes Pennsylvania blue. McCain’s not likely to carry Philadelphia.
McCain, though, is after the disenchanted Hillary Clinton supporters who may vote for him out of spite for Obama, but those supporters don’t reside in Philly. They live in the Philly ‘burbs like Montgomery County and in the central part of the state. McCain would have been better served boosting conservative morale by speaking in Harrisburg, the bastion of Republican politics in this state, or going to Pittsburgh to draw Reagan Democrats tempted to vote GOP as they have in presidential elections since the 1980s. Philly in my mind is a lost cause for McCain, but he’s the maverick.
10:42 a.m.The Nest has moved to Philadelphia for John McCain’s visit. I always compare McCain, the Arizona Republican, to watching NASCAR. Seeing NASCAR on television can be tedious, boring, tiring. However, when you see a race live NASCAR can be engaging, colorful and enjoyable. Ditto McCain. When you see the senator on television, he looks his 71 years, stiff, mindnumbing, but don’t pass up the opportunity to see him in person. As any number of Washington reporters have told me, you won’t find a more energetic person in the U.S. Senate, and this bears out when he’s on the stump. McCain draws you, he’s humorous and honest, personable, energizing and charismatic, which shows how often television does no justice.
We’re in the Constitution Center near Independence Hall, site of the infamous Democratic debate on ABC back in April. Only 600 people are here, and we aren’t even set up in the main theater. They’ve made a makeshift stage and seating area in the small loft above the Center’s main entrance, and I’m sure McCain people don’t want me to point this out, but if his chief rival Barack Obama set up a similar event, there’d be at least 10,000 inside and another 10,000 outside.
Keep refreshing your browser for updates. Good to be back on the campaign trail.
