‘Road Trip for Change’ swings into Battle Creek

Sen. Joe Biden and Sen. Barack Obama greet a crowd of 18,000 Sunday night in Battle Creek, Mich. photo by Todd A. Heywood

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — The Democratic nominees for president and vice president visited this southwest Michigan town Sunday evening and were greeted by an estimated crowd of 18,000.
Standing on a stage set up on the pitcher’s mound of a minor league baseball stadium, VP candidate Sen. Joe Biden was quick to attack:

“Folks, if I walked out of this ballpark, down Michigan and back, I bet I wouldn’t run into a single person who thought our economy was strong today, unless I bumped into John McCain,” Biden said. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, as recently as Aug. 20 said the economy is doing well. The Obama campaign and Democrats are hoping McCain’s comments will help them paint the Arizona senator as out of touch.

Sen. Barack Obama and Biden have been on the road since Obama accepted the Democratic nomination last week in Denver, and they are targeting Michigan hard. The two went from a town-hall meeting in Toledo to the rally in Battle Creek, then backtracked to Detroit so that Obama could address the annual Labor Day parade and rally there.

And the two did not disappoint the crowd, which had been standing in line since early Sunday morning, then for hours more once people were allowed into the C.O. Brown Stadium. Many stood in the 90-degree-plus heat and blazing sun for hours to see the two nominees.

Michigan is a key battleground state, and polls show Obama and McCain in a tight race here. But with an unemployment rate topping 8.5 percent and a struggling automotive industry that drives its economy, Michigan is a major target audience for Obama’s message of change and focusing on domestic issues.

Obama followed Biden and told the audience he would spend $150 billion over the next decade to assist Detroit automakers in creating new electric car and hybrid technologies and in retooling to create them. He also noted he would work to create fair trade policies that would allow American-made vehicles to be sold in similar quantities in other countries, such as South Korea, as those countries’ vehicles are sold here in the States.

During his 25-minute speech, Obama, who had no teleprompter, was relaxed and paced around the stage talking about his plans. He also directly addressed commercials the McCain camp has been running in the state that allege Obama will raise taxes if he is elected.

“Don’t believe those ads you see saying I’ll raise taxes, because your taxes will go down,” Obama said. He then said McCain was a twin to President George W. Bush and asserted the Arizona Republican had supported Bush’s policies 90 percent of the time.

The junior senator from Illinois did not hold back in assessing foreign policy either. “I’m tired of tough talk and dumb actions,” he said of the Republican’s foreign policy decisions. “I am ready to debate John McCain on that.”