Economy takes center stage in bruising ads
(CNN) - As the nation’s financial crisis continues to top headlines and dominate campaign trail discussion, John McCain and Barack Obama released a flurry of television ads within a few hours that play off a rising sense of economic anxiety.
The McCain campaign released an ad linking Obama to former Fannie Mae head Franklin Raines. "Who advises him?" the female announcer says. "The Post says it's Franklin Raines, for 'advice on mortgage and housing policy.'"
The Washington Post quote cited in the McCain campaign's release says that Raines has "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters."
The Obama campaign sent out a statement from Franklin Raines denying the claims in the McCain ad. "I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters." Obama spokesman Bill Burton called the charge “another flat-out lie.”
The Obama campaign responded with a spot taking aim at McCain’s economic advisors. "Carly Fiorina, the fired CEO who got a $42 million golden parachute," the announcer says. "Phil Gramm, the ex-Senator who pushed through deregulation, and called Americans hurt by this economy 'whiners’… Then there's George Bush, whose disastrous policies McCain wants to continue."
AFL-CIO plans economy mailer on McCain's 'strong' remark
(CNN)—In the face of growing economic concerns, the AFL-CIO will being sending out a new mailer Monday taking direct aim at Sen. John McCain’s recent comment that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are “strong.”
“John McCain says the economy is fundamentally strong,” the mailer reads. “John McCain is fundamentally wrong.”
McCain made the comments at a campaign event in Florida hours after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy last Monday.
"You know, there's been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street," McCain said in Jacksonville. “Our economy, I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times."
The Obama campaign has used the comment to attack the Republican nominee, calling him “disturbingly out of touch.”
The mailer, which the AFL-CIO calls their “broadest yet,” is set to reach more than one million union households in the swing states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The mailer will coincide with an e-mail reaching 500,000 people, phone calls and door to door visits from volunteers.
Fact Check: Did Obama 'profit' from Fannie and Freddie?
The Statement:
Amid "corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Sen. Barack Obama "profited from this system of abuse and scandal. While Fannie and Freddie were working to keep Congress away from their house of cards, Senator Obama was taking their money. He got more, in fact, than any other member of Congress, except for the Democratic chairman of the committee that oversees them." -Sen. John McCain, at a campaign stop Friday, September 19, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Get the facts after the jump!
Palin nixed from Iran rally
(CNN) - Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has been uninvited from attending a rally against Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad next week in New York, one day after Hillary Clinton nixed her appearance at the event because the Alaska governor was slated to be there.
“In order to keep the focus on Iranian threats and to ensure that this critical message not be obscured, the organizers of the rally have decided not to have any American political personalities appear,” the organizers, which include several Jewish groups, said in a statement.
In a statement, John McCain expressed disappointment over the decision.
"Governor Palin was pleased to accept an invitation to address this rally and show her resolve on this grave national security issue, regrettably that invitation has since been withdrawn under pressure from Democratic partisans," he said. "We stand shoulder to shoulder with Republicans, Democrats and independents alike to oppose Ahmadinejad's goal of a nuclear armed Iran. Senator Obama's campaign had the opportunity to join us. Senator Obama chose politics rather than the national interest."
A spokesman for the event, Glen Rosencrantz, would not confirm a Politico report that several high-profile Jewish Democrats had pressured the organization to nix Palin from the event.
But in a conference call with reporters Thursday, Ira Forman, the Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said his group strongly disapproved of Palin's invitation to the event.
“We have a presidential election where the McCain-Palin ticket want to use what’s supposed to be a very, very bipartisan-type of operation to, again, use it as a campaign event," he said.
HAPPENING NOW: McCain talks economy in Wisconsin
(CNN) - John McCain is laying out his economic proposals in a speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
He's expected to sharply criticize Barack Obama's policies as well.
Full story: McCain wants a new agency to fix financial crisis
Watch the event on CNN.com/live
Obama-Biden surrogate mocks Palin
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (CNN) – An Ohio mayor who introduced Joe Biden at a rally Thursday night said Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, Alaska was “not the real world.”
“One of the things that bothers me is the fact that Governor Palin talks about she's ready to be the Vice President because she's been a mayor.” said Jay Williams, the Democratic-turned-independent mayor of Youngstown. “I’ve never been to Wasilla, but I’m sure it’s a nice little town, In fact it’s so little we could invite them all to sit down in [Youngstown’s] Chevrolet Centre and probably still have room left over.”
“I would love to be the mayor of Wasilla,” he continued. “I could probably do it from my home and not show up to work too often because in Wasilla, they don’t have a crime problem. There were two homicides in Wasilla in the last 13 years.”
Williams added that the average Wasilla income and price for a home are above the national average.
Palin: Obama doesn't 'get it' on energy issues
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (CNN) - Sarah Palin disparaged Barack Obama Thursday night for not having to deal with oil and natural gas issues in his home state of Illinois.
Palin accused Obama of siding with special interests "time and time again" instead of standing up for working Americans struggling with high fuel costs.
“And maybe if he’d been the governor of an energy-rich state, he’d get it,” she said at a rally in Green Bay, held just down the street from fabled Lambeau Field. “And maybe, maybe if he’d been on the front lines of securing our nation’s energy independence, then he’d understand.”
McCain’s advisers have stressed Palin’s experience with oil and gas issues in her home state. The Alaska governor touted her resume on Thursday.
“As governor of Alaska, I’ve overseen a very large portion of our U.S. domestic production of oil, and through a heck of a lot of competition and hard work, I’ve secured agreements to build a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to get our clean, green natural gas down to hungry markets like here in Wisconsin,” she said. “I know what works, and I know that America needs this.”
POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Friday, Sept. 19, 2008
CNN: Palin's husband won't testify in trooper inquiry, campaign says
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband won't comply with a subpoena issued by state lawmakers investigating her firing of Alaska's public safety commissioner, the McCain-Palin campaign said Thursday.
WSJ: Financial Upheaval Narrows Options of Next U.S. President
Sometimes events reshape a presidential campaign. Sometimes they reshape the world the candidates seek to lead.
CNN: Palin excitement levels off as Democrats regain lead
Is America's honeymoon with Sarah Palin over? Polls suggest that might be so. Palin appears to be losing some of her initial appeal as Democrats make gains in the polls.
CNN: Obama makes gains in national polls
Sen. Barack Obama has widened his lead over Sen. John McCain, according to CNN's latest "poll of polls."
LA Times: National electoral map: McCain-Palin gains slow down; Obama rebounding?
With Sen. John McCain's surprise selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, recent weeks have seen the Republican ticket surge in the national and state polls, especially among women.
ON THE TRAIL: Friday, Sept. 19, 2008
* Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin hold a 1pm rally in Blaine, MN
* Sen. Barack Obama holds a 1pm rally in Coral Gables, FL
* Sen. Joe Biden holds a 12pm rally in Sterling, VA
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