Obama to hold jobs summit in Fla. with governors

[October 21, 2008]  PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Democrat Barack Obama is bringing several GOP-leaning states he's aiming to win together in one place. A clever campaign trick? No. He's holding a jobs summit Tuesday in economically precarious Florida, with participation by the governors of several states that went Republican four years ago and for which the Democratic presidential nominee is making a serious play this time around.

With the current economic crisis creating favorable conditions for Democrats, Obama has focused his final-stretch message almost entirely on that topic -- and almost entirely on traditionally Republican turf. The subject of the battered economy, and battered households, is particularly timely in Florida, which has unemployment above the national average and one of the worst foreclosure rates.

So, on a two-day swing aimed at turning Florida his way, Obama planned to hammer home the message that he has the best economic plan during Tuesday's roundtable. The event, amounting to a mass public endorsement of his economic proposals, was drawing the governors of Michigan, Ohio, New Mexico and Colorado to the town of Lake Worth on Florida's east coast.

All the states except Michigan, which Republican John McCain recently abandoned, voted for President Bush in 2004 and all four now have Democratic governors.

In Colorado and Ohio, McCain is believed to be down, but within or close to the margin of error in polls. Florida, once solidly in McCain's corner, now is a tossup. And in New Mexico, Obama appears to have a comfortable lead.

Also participating in the discussion are Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, an Obama campaign adviser.

Obama has planned several other appearances in Florida on Tuesday, capped by an evening rally with his wife, Michelle, in Miami.

Obama also campaigned across the state on Monday, holding a solo rally in Tampa and a joint event with former Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in Orlando that was attended by more than 50,000 people.

The Democratic presidential candidate heads to more GOP states, Virginia and Indiana, on Wednesday and Thursday.

After a morning rally Thursday in Indianapolis, Obama will leave the campaign trail and fly to Hawaii to visit his suddenly gravely ill, 85-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, a central figure in her grandson's life. She helped raise him.

"She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me," Obama said in his August speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination.

He is to resume campaigning Saturday in an undetermined location in the West, mostly likely another state that went for Bush in 2004, such as Nevada, aides said.

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On the Net:

Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/

McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com/

[Associated Press; By JENNIFER LOVEN]

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