Obama expands ads to two GOP states

November 1, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Democrat Barack Obama broadened his advertising campaign on Friday into two once reliably Republican states and further bedeviled rival John McCain by placing a commercial in the Republican presidential nominee’s home state of Arizona.

Obama’s campaign, capitalizing on his vast financial resources and a favorable political climate, announced that it was going back up with advertising in Georgia and North Dakota, two GOP states that it had teased with ads earlier in the general election campaign but then abandoned.

In Iowa, where his campaign took off with a caucus win Jan. 3, Obama told supporters to expect McCain’s campaign to end in a crescendo of attacks on him. “More of the slash and burn, say-anything, do-anything politics that’s calculated to divide and distract; to tear us apart instead of bringing us together,” Obama told 25,000 in Des Moines.

Ex-chief diplomat: Palin is not ready

WASHINGTON — A former secretary of state and supporter of Republican John McCain says that McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, isn’t up to the task of taking over the presidency in a crisis but could become “adequate” if not “a genius in the job.”

Then again, added Lawrence Eagleburger, several other vice presidents were also not ready. And he said he was confident that Palin, Alaska’s governor, was tough enough if called to serve.

Eagleburger, who was secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush, has been cited frequently by McCain as one of several seasoned diplomats and former Cabinet members who back his presidential bid. McCain has pointed to them when asked about former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s decision to endorse Democrat Barack Obama.

Asked Thursday on National Public Radio if he thought Palin would be ready to take over in a crisis, Eagleburger said, “Of course not.”

AP poll: 1 in 7 voters still persuadable

WASHINGTON — With just days left in the 2008 campaign, some people are still making up their minds about who should be president.

One in seven, or 14 percent, can’t decide, or back a candidate but might switch, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll of likely voters released Friday.

Who are they? They look a lot like the voters who’ve already locked onto a candidate, though they’re more likely to be white and less likely to be liberal. And they disproportionately backed Hillary Rodham Clinton’s failed run for the Democratic nomination.

For now, their indecision remains intact despite the fortunes that have been spent to tug people toward either McCain, the Republican, or the Democrat Obama. Fueling their uncertainty is a combination of disliking something about both candidates and frustration with this campaign and politics in general.

Palin: Obama is committed to more taxes

LATROBE, Pa. — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, on a bus tour of small towns in Pennsylvania, said Friday that Democrat Barack Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes.

About 3,000 people crowded an open-air hangar for a rally at a regional airport, about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh, where temperatures were just above freezing.

“Barack Obama is for bigger government and he’s going to raise your taxes,” Palin said.

Obama’s tax plan calls for no tax increases for working families making less than $250,000 a year or for individuals making less than $200,000 annually. He also pledges to seek a tax cut for the middle class.

The Alaska governor spent much of her speech associating Obama with the “far-left wing” of the Democratic Party and congressional leaders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Associated Press

Biden asks UD students to help in Pennsylvania

NEWARK, Del. (AP) — Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden urged students at his alma mater on Friday to take a road trip — to work for the Democratic ticket in hotly contested Pennsylvania.

“It’s an honor to be back on campus,” Biden told more than 1,500 people crowded on the green outside Memorial Hall at the University of Delaware. Biden, who graduated in 1965, added that he was grateful so many people turned out for the rally rather than travel to Philadelphia for a parade honoring the World Series champion Phillies.

But Biden did encourage students and others in the crowd to head north for another reason — to help Barack Obama win Pennsylvania, whose 21 electoral votes could be pivotal in Tuesday’s election.

“We need not just your vote, we need you to bring others along, to make phone calls, to knock on doors,” Biden told the crowd. He said buses will be taking volunteers from Delaware to Pennsylvania daily through Election Day.

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DAILY TRACK

Democrat Barack Obama has an 11-percentage-point lead over Republican John McCain — 52 percent to 41 percent — among registered voters, according to the latest Gallup Poll daily tracking update. Obama’s lead on Thursday was 8 points.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Barack Obama campaigned in Iowa and was scheduled to travel to Indiana.

Joe Biden campaigned in Delaware and planned to stop in Ohio.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain campaigned in Ohio.

Sarah Palin campaigned in Pennsylvania.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“So, where were we?” — Al Gore, campaigning for Democrat Barack Obama in Florida, which cost the former vice president the 2000 presidential election.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

By more than 10 percentage points, more Ohioans said they trust Democrat Barack Obama than Republican McCain on the financial crisis, the economy and health care, according to a recent Associated Press-GfK poll.

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Compiled by Ann Sanner.