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 McCain's economic plan samples from Dems and GOP
WASHINGTON (AP) -- For a candidate who initially said economics wasn't his best subject, Republican John McCain has been busy playing catch-up. He's borrowed from the triangulation play book of the Clinton presidency by splitting differences and incorporating opposing views into his program.
His economic plan, which he fleshed out Tuesday during a speech in Pittsburgh and was promoting Wednesday in Milwaukee, combines a call for extending Bush administration tax cuts he once opposed with a populist appeal to eliminate federal gasoline and diesel taxes for the summer driving season. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee also advocates aggressive federal action to help struggling homeowners refinance, similar to his Democratic presidential rivals.
And he would double the income tax exemption for children to $7,000 per dependent, from $3,500.
At the same time, the senator from Arizona would increase down-payment requirements on government-guaranteed home mortgages, which puts him at odds with both President Bush and congressional Democratic leaders, who want to lower the threshold.
McCain's overall plan has come a long way from his comments just a month ago that the government should only have a limited role in addressing the housing-credit meltdown. Then, McCain asserted that the government should not step in to help those who acted irresponsibly, "whether they are big banks or small borrowers."
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Obama wins Pittsburgh newspaper endorsement
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday, less than a week ahead of Pennsylvania's critical Democratic presidential primary, saying he brings "an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy."
The newspaper praised both Obama and his rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as "uncommonly smart, thoughtful and very well-versed in the issues. They care about people and they care about the workings of government. They are prepared."
Both would represent a significant change from President Bush's incompetence, the editorial said.
However, the editorial said Clinton's heaping of criticism on Obama -- she has described his recent remarks about working class voters in small towns as "elitist" and implied he is unready to handle an international crisis
-- represent "the cynical responses of the old politics to the new" and amount to doing the Republicans work for them.
"Sen. Obama has captured much of the nation's imagination for a reason," the editorial said. "He offers real change, a vision of an America that can move past not only racial tensions but also the political partisanship that has so bedeviled it."
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McCain's GOP critics in Arizona continue to press their case
PHOENIX (AP) -- Sen. John McCain's status as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has done little to ease the criticism he faces from a small but vocal group of conservatives in his home state.
A week ago, Republican activists living in the same state legislative district as McCain rejected nearly all the names his campaign submitted as candidates to become delegates to the party's state convention on May 10.
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 Six people on McCain's slate eventually became delegates, said Rob Haney, the district's Republican chairman and McCain's most prominent critic in Arizona.
"The people who know him like him the least. He is a media darling, so the general population doesn't know his record
-- and conservatives do," Haney said, though noting he doesn't believe the development could derail McCain's campaign.
The group of conservatives has dogged McCain since he first ran for Congress in 1982, objecting to his views on illegal immigration and campaign finance, among other issues. They rallied around him during the "Keating Five" scandal but were turned off by his moderate positions in the 2000 presidential race.
While the group has at times been an embarrassment, McCain remains strong in Arizona. The latest polls show him with a sizable lead in the state in matchups against either of his two Democratic rivals.
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THE DEMOCRATS
Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at a conference of the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department in Washington before joining Barack Obama to participate in a debate in Philadelphia.
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THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain holds a summit on the economy in Milwaukee.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
George W. Bush "is one of the worst, if not the worst, president we have ever had."
-- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as quoted by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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STAT OF THE DAY:
Pennsylvania is allotted 29 superdelegates. Of those, 15 back Hillary Rodham Clinton, five back Barack Obama, six are undecided and three have not yet been named. Superdelegates are the nearly 800 elected officials and party leaders who could decide who becomes the Democratic party's presidential nominee.
[Associated
Press]
Compiled by Joan Lowy.
Copyright 2008 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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