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Transcript Below (with props to Dopeman).

Charles:

I was born in ‘22. I lived through the Great Depression. That’s the reason I’ve been a Democrat all my life, ’cause I saw what Roosevelt did when he first come into office. My mother would have lose her farm and we would’ve lose everything we had if it hadn’t have been for President Roosevelt elected to office.

Merideth:

Charles started volonteering with us here about 4 weeks ago now, it was right after his wife passed away. He’d been married to her for 69 years. And he has been helping us with the front desk, greeting folks, signing them in, making sure they feel welcome here, um, he’s just, he’s one of the most amazing people I’ve met on the campaign. he saw our raffle box that we had set up for every volunteer who came in to help us was able to submit a raffle ticket to be pulled at random and the next day was the day that we pulled out, we pulled the winner and I stuck my hand in the big box then swirled it around at random and pulled out Charles Alexander’s ticket and everyone was just in shock. Everyone said that if there is one one person out of Boulder County, out of Colorado could meet Barack, this was the guy that absolutely deserved it, um, and we told him the next day and he looked at us and he said ‘are you pulling my leg? Are you kidding me? I’ve never won anything in my life.’

Charles:

Oh that’s the greatest thing in my life, I tell ya, I never did think I would meet.. uh… someone going to be the president of the United States in my lifetime. He is such a lovely person, he is just the same in person as he is on tv. And uh, if he gets to be elected president it will be one of the greatest jobs this country’s people ever done for this country. to elect him president now, somebody who can unite the country back together. ‘Cause divided we will never go no place when we are divided.

Merideth:

He’s the type of person that gets me up out of bed every morning and keeps me going.

Charles:

My God, all these young people here, they are tomorrow’s future. I’m dying off. Everybody my age is dying off. Everybody. The next 4 or 5 years, I probably won’t be around. These young people are going to take the lead. That’s what I love about seeing all these young people in here volunteering ’cause they are all tomorrow’s future. They are my grandkids’ future and great great grandkids, the young people that you see here today. God knows that I see a bunch of them. They really are wonderful people. They’re just as friendly as they can be. They are real united people. And that’s what this country needs to be, 100% united. and I just think Barack Obama is the person that can do it.

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
“One Week”
Closing Argument Speech
As Prepared for Delivery
Monday, October 27th, 2008
Canton, Ohio
 
 
One week.  
 
After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America.  
 
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.  
 
In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.
 
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.  
 
In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.
 
We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois.  Back then, we didn’t have much money or many endorsements.  We weren’t given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.  
 
But I also knew this.  I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics.  I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.  
 
Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen.  I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations.  And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.  
 
Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated.  That’s how we’ve come so far and so close – because of you.  That’s how we’ll change this country – with your help.  And that’s why we can’t afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week.  Not now.  Not when so much is at stake.  
 
We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can’t get credit.  Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing.  Wages are lower than they’ve been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher.  It’s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.  
 
At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.  The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations.  Those are the theories that got us into this mess.  They haven’t worked, and it’s time for change.  That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.
 
Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example.  He deserves credit for that.  But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way.  Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed.  Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt.  Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year.  Those are the facts.  
 
And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can’t spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years.
 
It’s not change when John McCain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO.  It’s not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess.  It’s not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn’t give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans.  That’s not change.  
 
Look – we’ve tried it John McCain’s way.  We’ve tried it George Bush’s way.  Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that “if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” That’s why he’s spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book.  Because that’s how you play the game in Washington. If you can’t beat your opponent’s ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up.  If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.
 
Ohio, we are here to say “Not this time.  Not this year.  Not when so much is at stake.”  Senator McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I’m worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings.  I can take one more week of John McCain’s attacks, but this country can’t take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies.  It’s time for something new.  
 
The question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”  We know the answer to that.  The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”
 
I know these are difficult times for America.  But I also know that we have faced difficult times before.  The American story has never been about things coming easy – it’s been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard.  It’s about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys.  It’s about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose.  That’s how we’ve overcome war and depression.  That’s how we’ve won great struggles for civil rights and women’s rights and worker’s rights.  And that’s how we’ll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before – as one nation; as one people.  
 
Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth.  We’re still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities.  So there’s no reason we can’t make this century another American century.  We just need a new direction.  We need a new politics.    
 
Now, I don’t believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems.  I know you don’t either.  But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology.  It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.  It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who’s willing to work.  That’s how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That’s how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services.  That’s how we’ve always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up.  John McCain calls this socialism.  I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.  
 
Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right.  We don’t need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government – a more competent government – a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.
 
We don’t have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street banks.  As President, I will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching CEOs.  And I will put in place the common-sense regulations I’ve been calling for throughout this campaign so that Wall Street can never cause a crisis like this again.  That’s the change we need.
 
The choice in this election isn’t between tax cuts and no tax cuts.  It’s about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it.  I will give a tax break to 95% of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week.  I’ll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break.  And I’ll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s.  No matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts – if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes.  Nothing.  Because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle-class.    
 
When it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around America or allowing every job to disappear overseas.  The truth is, we won’t be able to bring back every job that we’ve lost, but that doesn’t mean we should follow John McCain’s plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send American jobs overseas.  I will end those breaks as President, and I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America.  I’ll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country.  We’ll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country.  And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow, not in Japan or South Korea but here in the United States of America; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain.  That’s how America can lead again.
 
When it comes to health care, we don’t have to choose between a government-run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now.  If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums.  If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves.  We’ll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy.  And as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn’t want to pay for treatment, I will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most.  
 
When it comes to giving every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform – because our schools need both.  As President, I will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support.  But I will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools.  And I will make a deal with every American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college:  if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition.  You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.
 
And when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don’t have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in Iraq.  It’s time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus.  As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11.  I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.  I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
 
I won’t stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now.  The cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq, means that Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we can afford to do without.  On this, there is no other choice.  As President, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don’t need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.  
 
But as I’ve said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn’t just about new programs and policies.  It’s about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.  
 
Part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility.  On Wall Street, easy money and an ethic of “what’s good for me is good enough” blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making.  On Main Street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn’t afford.  Some folks knew they couldn’t afford those houses and bought them anyway.  In Washington, politicians spent money they didn’t have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. They scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, all we were asked to do by our President was to go out and shop.
 
That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone.  What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play.  Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens.  That’s what’s been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose.  And that’s what we need to restore right now.  
 
Yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair.  But all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need.  Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; Democrat and Republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not.  
 
In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another.  The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe.  
 
Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country.  There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots.  There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies.  The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag.  They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
 
It won’t be easy, Ohio.  It won’t be quick.  But you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country.  Some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics.  A lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders.  You have every right to be.  But despite all of this, I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history.  
 
I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.
 
I know this change is possible.  Because I have seen it over the last twenty-one months.  Because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America.  
 
I’ve seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time.  I’ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb.  I’ve seen it in the faces of the men and women I’ve met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.
 
I still remember the email that a woman named Robyn sent me after I met her in Ft. Lauderdale.  Sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars.  Her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn’t have that kind of money.  
 
In her email, Robyn wrote, “I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can’t think of uttering another word to the people, think of us.  When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder.”
 
Ohio, that’s what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead.  If we’re willing to work for it.  If we’re willing to shed our fears and our doubts.  If we’re willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we’re tired and come back fighting harder.
 
Hope!  That’s what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough.  What led them to say, “Maybe I can’t go to college, but if I save a little bit each week my child can; maybe I can’t have my own business but if I work really hard my child can open one of her own.”  It’s what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in America; what led those who couldn’t vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, “It may look dark tonight, but if I hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter.”  
 
That’s what this election is about.  That is the choice we face right now.
 
Don’t believe for a second this election is over.  Don’t think for a minute that power concedes.  We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.     
 
In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.  
 
In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.  
 
In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.  
 
In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history. 

That’s what’s at stake.  That’s what we’re fighting for.  And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win Ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world.  Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.

In 1992 George Bush Sr. ran against William Jefferson Clinton when it was “the economy stupid.”  The last market crash was during the Reagan administration in 1987 when market indexes dropped 43% in seven days.  George Bush 41 also left the nation in a recession when he left office in 1992.  It took democrat Bill Clinton to bring us out of  that recession.  Like father, like son, Bush 43 has twice upped his father by leaving the country in dire straights while he leaves office with his tail between his legs.  It was Republican control of all three branches of government that got us into this mess, now it’s time for the Democrats to come in and clean up. Putting a Republican in charge is like

Since 1929, Republicans and Democrats have each controlled the presidency for nearly 40 years. So which party has been better for American pocketbooks and capitalism as a whole? Well, here’s an experiment: imagine that during these years you had to invest exclusively under either Democratic or Republican administrations. How would you have fared?  SEE results

As of Friday, a $10,000 investment in the S.& P. stock market index* would have grown to $11,733 if invested under Republican presidents only, although that would be $51,211 if we exclude Herbert Hoover’s presidency during the Great Depression. Invested under Democratic presidents only, $10,000 would have grown to $300,671 at a compound rate of 8.9 percent over nearly 40 years.

First, the continued meme of the Right that it was the democrats support of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that caused this economic meltdown is bogus.  What Republicans conveniently forget is that George W. Bush warned and pushed for more oversight of Freddie and Fannie back in 2001.  Did I mention that the Republicans were in control of Congress at the time and for five whole years after Bush’s clarion call.  Oh, and by Republican control, I include Sen. John McCain in that group.  Yes, McCain sat in Congress for five years after the leader of his party sounded the alarm about Freddie and Fannie and did absolutely nothing.  Did I further mention that the Republican party controlled Congress for 12 years prior to the Democrats winning the majority just two years ago in 2006.  And, five months after Democrats took control of Congress, Democrats passed a bill regulating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Nuff said.

It was the private sector, not the government backed entities that caused the subprime meltdown.  Freddie and Fannie were not at fault for this disaster 

Federal Reserve Board data show that:

• More than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions.
• Private firms made nearly 83 percent of the subprime loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers that year.
• Only one of the top 25 subprime lenders in 2006 was directly subject to the housing law that’s being lambasted by conservative critics.

The GOP and John McCain are saying that voters should vote for either so that Democrats don’t win the particular branch of government that the person speaking at the time is not running in.  This is the argument that the GOP is using to urge voters to vote for their candidate to stop the Democrats from winning the majority in Congress and also winning the Executive office.  Yes, this is what the congressional candidates have in their arsenal to try and prevent their democratic rivals from winning their Senate and House seats on Nov 4th.  Don’t vote for my opponent because John McCain is going to lose.  Sen. McCain’s closing argument, don’t vote for Sen. Obama because my congressional colleagues are going to lose all the seats in contention in their States and Districts on Nov 4th.  Neither the GOP nor McCain offer any real solutions to the real problems facing Americans but again are trying to use the same scare tactics that they used in 2004.  They are hoping that Americans have a short memory, and by short I mean nonexistent.  They hope Americans will forget that it was GOP policies, endorsed wholeheartedly by Sen. John McCain,  and the policies of  its leader George W. Bush, who McCain voted with 90% of the time, that caused our current crisis. 

This is a losing argument for Sen. John McCain and the GOP and it just shows how both are completely out of touch with the American people. They are basically admitting that either is going to lose so vote for me.   We have absolutely nothing in terms of policies to help you and the policies proposed by our democratic opponents are far superior than anything we can come up with so vote for us because we don’t want them to be successful.  Rediculous closing argument. 

To be effective, a Democratic president needs the support of a Democratic congress.  We need a real break from the last eight years and a completely new direction.  Lets do what we need to do in order to make that happen.  This will be a very close race, so please VOTE and encourage others to vote.

There are exactly 10 days, 21 hours, 38 minutes, to the minute before the first polls open on November 4th. My question to all of you is….what are you doing to make history?  What will you tell your grandchildren that you contributed to this historic event?  Will you tell them that you phonebanked for Obama through his revolutionary Internet phonebanking tool?  Will you tell them that you canvassed for Obama in the battleground  state of Virginia and turned Virginia blue for the first time in 44 years?! Will you say that you helped get at least five people to the polls on Election Day?  Will you say that during this historic election you lent your skills as an attorney to Obama’s voter protection program?  Will you say that you donated to Obama’s historic, built from the ground up, campaign?  What exactly will you say that you did to help create this historic movement for change?  This is the last stretch, do not take anything for granted, regardless of what the polls say, it is up the you to put Sen. Barack Obama over the finish line.  Volunteer at your local Campaign For Change  office and help to Get Out The Vote on November 4th.  100 billion more registered voters mean nothing if people do not come out, with their patience, and VOTE.  Volunteer to entertain people who are waiting in line to vote….bring water or snacks to folks who are waiting in line to vote.  This is our opportunity to experience what they experienced in the Sixties, our opportunity to be a part of something so much bigger than ourselves, our opportunity to contribute to something so much more important than we ever thought it could be, our opportunity to return America to the shining beacon to the world that it once was.  This is our time, this is our moment,  DO YOUR PART to make this happen.  www.Barack.Obama.com

The McCain campaign has spent $150,000 in the last three months on Sarah Palin’s makeup and wardrobe.  My question is…didn’t Sen. John McCain opt in for public financing?  You remember…the 84.1 million federal funds that McCain received to use between the Republican National Convention and the General Election.  Therefore, is the$150,000 dollars that McCain used for “pantsuits and blouses” public funds?  Hmmm?  The American economy is teetering on a recession and McCain uses the funds of hardworking Americans, voluntary or involuntary, to fund Sarah Palin’s a new and OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive wardrobe????  I would be very interested to know where those shopping spree funds came from, whether it was from funds raised by the McCain campaign, or are they from the public funds that McCain is using to finance his campaign?  This ladies and gentlemen is why Sen. John Mccain is so woefully out of touch with your average American.  This is also why he should not be in charge of America’s purse strings.  A month ago Cindy McCain was reported to have worn a $300, 000 outfit during the Republican National Convention. Yet McCain says that he identifies more with “Joe the plumber,” whose name isn’t Joe and who is not a real plumber, than Obama.  A bit like the fraud that the McCain campaign is trying to perpetrate on the American people.  The McCain campaign is pushing Gov. Sarah Palin as “Jill Sixpack” and the average woman but I do not know any “Jill Sixpack” who spends $150,000 in three months on clothing.  I guess that’s just how the McCains and the Palins roll.

Expanded Access to Capital

Barack will unlock credit needed to keep small businesses growing by implementing a nationwide emergency lending facility for small businesses.

Provide Temporary Tax Relief

To stimulate investment and job growth and spark our long-term recovery, the Small Business Rescue Plan will provide temporary business tax incentives through 2009.

Eliminate Capital Gains Taxes

Barack’s plan will eliminate all capital gains taxes on investments made in small and start-up businesses, encouraging investment and innovation.

Cut or Freeze Taxes for 99% of Small Business Owners

To help individuals with small business income — including the country’s more than 20 million self-employed individuals — Barack will provide a $1,000 Making Work Pay tax credit to 95 percent of workers and their families, and freeze any tax increases for the remaining 4 percent.

Lower Health Care Costs and Ease the Health Care Burden

Barack will give small businesses new incentives, help cut costs, and improve efficiency for all firms to provide health care to their workers at an affordable rate.

Expand Opportunity for Small Businesses

Barack will put in place far-reaching reforms to expand the ability of women-, service-disabled veteran-, and minority-owned firms to compete in today’s marketplace

SEE FULL PLAN

Four-star General Colin Powell said that Sen. Barack Obama has the makings of becoming “an exceptional president” when he endorsed the Illinois senator on Sunday’s Meet the Press.  For those who are asking what this high profile foreign policy and military expert endorsement of Sen. Obama will do in terms of votes, Sen. Obama’s numbers increased today by two points in the Reuters/Cspan/Zogby daily tracking poll.  On Sunday before the endorsement the numbers were Obama 48 to McCain’s 45.  After Gen. Powell’s endorsement, Obama’s numbers bumped up 50 to McCain’s 44.  Sen. Obama also gained three points among Catholics (primarly white voters).  A shout out to Obama: Sen. Obama has built a very broad coalition of voters.  The Illinois senator enjoys 40% of the white vote (average for democratic candidates Clinton, Gore, Kerry), 95% of the black vote, and 70% of the latino vote.  His support in the asian community is also very significant.  He is a candidate that truly represents all Americans instead of a small part of it.  The Reuters?Cspan/Zogby poll is a three day tracking poll where the average of three days polling is given as the final result.  On Sunday alone, after the Powell endorsement, Sen. Obama’s tracking numbers jumped 10 points!  The numbers are in and the four-star General definitely made a difference.  General Powell has worked for Bush 41 and Bush 43 and is a very good friend of Sen. John McCain’s.  Therefore, for the General to come out and support Sen. Obama, his opposing party’s candidate, is a tremendous vote of confidence in Obama-Biden and more importantly a significant lack of confidence in a McCain-Palin administration.  General Powell said that Sen. McCain’s campaign is not good for the country or its reputation around the world.  The former Secretary of State went on to say that he is concerned about McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.  The General believes that Palin is not qualified to be vice president.  Now I say to you, if Palin is not qualified to be vice president, she is certainly not qualified to be president should the recent concerns about McCain’s health be substantiated.  

One last thing.  General Powell made a really interesting point about allegations from the Right that Sen. Obama is proposing redistributing wealth through his tax policy.  To paraphrase, Powell said that all tax policy is about redistribution of wealth in some form because for the government to function it cost money.  Think about it this way, when the Republican party and its leaders Bush/McCain demand military actions in other regions of the world knowing that it will result in significant government expenditures and then demand deep tax cuts simultaneously for a small group of Americans in the highest tax bracket, this results in wealth redistribution from the middle class and the working poor to the rich.  So for republicans and McCain to call Sen. Obama tax policy wealth redistributing, they are for redistributing themselves but to a different socio-economic class…..the rich.

A record month of MONUMENTAL proportions!! The Obama campaign reported this morning that they raised more than $150 million in the month of September.  A total of 632,000 new donors, 3.1 million donors total.  The average donation for the month was $100.  The everage contribution for the entire campaign is $86. 

Barack Obama for President

Friday, October 17, 2008

THE NOMINATING process this year produced two unusually talented and qualified presidential candidates. There are few public figures we have respected more over the years than Sen. John McCain. Yet it is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Why Sen. Obama? 

Mr. Obama is a man of supple intelligence, with a nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and consensus-building. At home, we believe, he would respond to the economic crisis with a healthy respect for markets tempered by justified dismay over rising inequality and an understanding of the need for focused regulation. Abroad, the best evidence suggests that he would seek to maintain U.S. leadership and engagement, continue the fight against terrorists, and wage vigorous diplomacy on behalf of U.S. values and interests. Mr. Obama has the potential to become a great president. Given the enormous problems he would confront from his first day in office, and the damage wrought over the past eight years, we would settle for very good…..

……Mr. Obama’s temperament is unlike anything we’ve seen on the national stage in many years. He is deliberate but not indecisive; eloquent but a master of substance and detail; preternaturally confident but eager to hear opposing points of view. He has inspired millions of voters of diverse ages and races, no small thing in our often divided and cynical country. We think he is the right man for a perilous moment.

Why not Sen. McCain? 

But the stress of a campaign can reveal some essential truths, and the picture of Mr. McCain that emerged this year is far from reassuring. To pass his party’s tax-cut litmus test, he jettisoned his commitment to balanced budgets. He hasn’t come up with a coherent agenda, and at times he has seemed rash and impulsive. And we find no way to square his professed passion for America’s national security with his choice of a running mate who, no matter what her other strengths, is not prepared to be commander in chief.

The Independent vote is in and Sen. Barack Obama won last night by an even wider margin than he did in previous debates.  In a CNN poll of several hundred independent debate watchers, 57% of the independents said that Obama won the debate.  Only 31% said McCain won the debate.  In a CBS poll, 53% of uncommitted voters said that Obama won the debate while only 22% said that McCain won.  A Fox News focus group was asked which candidate won the debate and a “clear majority” of the group said that Obama won.  Finally, an MSNBC poll showed that Obama won the debate 20 to 7.  It looks as if this final debate was not the game-changer that McCain was hoping for. 

And by the way, Joe the plumber, who makes over a quarter million dollars a year, is not your average Joe.  To compare this plumber who is making over $250,000 a year to Joe sixpack or your average Joe who makes under $50,000 a year is insulting to our intelligence.  The McCain campaign believes that because his name is Joe and he is a plumber that they can bamboozle voters into believing that this guy is your average American struggling to make ends meet in this floundering economy.  Well Joe is quarter millionaire Joe.  Yes, Joe who makes more than 95% of Americans will have to pay the same tax percentage that was paid by that tax bracket during the Clinton administration……you remember, when the economy was flourishing.  The amazing irony, as highlighted by Sen. Obama, is that had Joe the plumber been receiving the tax cuts for the middle class that Obama proposes when Joe was working 12-hour days and trying to save enough money to buy his plumbing business, Joe the plumber could have bought his plumbing business alot sooner than he has under the Bush-McCain tax plan.

First it was Charlie Crist choosing to go to Disney World rather than attending a McCain event.  Yes, after flying around Florida with McCain’s running mate Gov. Sarah Palin, Crist had more important things to do on Saturday when he skipped a McCain football rally to go to Disney World.  Crist gave the following comment, ”[w]hen I have time to help, I’ll try to do that.” Is it me or is that the loud echo of distancing that I hear?

The RNC has moved into triage mode and are now concentrating on saving senate seats.  The RNC is specifically trying to prevent a filibuster-proof majority in the senate. The Democrats only need nine senate seats to get the 60 seat majority needed to prevent filibusters by the GOP.

Obama now holds a double-digit lead on McCain in four different battlground states.  Quinnipiac released its poll results yesterday for four key swing states.  In Colorado, Obama leads McCain 52 to 43.  In Michigan, Obama leads 54 to 38 percent. In Minnesota, Obama is up 51 to 40 percent, and in Wisconsin Obama leads McCain 51 to 43 percent.  Not a good day for McCain.

The topic of tonight’s debate is the economy, the economy, the economy.  Not exactly Sen. McCain’s strong point.  Thus Sen. Obama should be prepared for Sen. McCain to raise several distractions.  This is McCain’s last stand and he is desperate to change the subject.  Therefore, as far as the McCain campaign is concerned, nothing is off the table. Obama should expect McCain to employ the politics of hate and whatever else he comes up with in an attempt to change the subject and appeal to the worse part of the human spirit.  McCain has already said that he plans to bring up the William Ayers thing to Obama’s face tonight.  Unlike prior debates, the candidates will be sitting at a table facing each other with Bob Schieffer moderating.  Both candidates should be on their toes because Schieffer plans to get specifics. 

Heaven forbid McCain should have a real plan for the economy…way to much to ask for.

Georgia early voting exceeds prior records.  As of today, early vote totals in Georgia are close to 500,000!  Un-freakin-believable!  And the kicker is that 37% of the early voters are African-American.  Woohooo!  Given that polling suggest that at least 90% of black folks vote for Sen. Obama, I’d say that that is pretty good news for the Obama campaign. Can a democrat win Georgia??  Hmmm.  For all those black folks out there who are determined to vote on Election Day, I have this to say….VOTE EARLY.  I voted early and had a better experience than I have had in previous general elections.  I voted without the hassle of long lines, dirty tricks, traffic, weather, etc.  I went in, just as I have every past Election Day and voted on the equipment.  It was an exhilarating experience and I highly recommend it.  I walked around all day with a rediculous smile on my face.  And guess what, you can help get others to the polls on Election Day instead of worrying about getting there yourself.  Read Georgia article.

Early vote totals have now reached 499,582 — about 75,000 more than were cast early in all of 2004. (The state is also newly encouraging early voting this year, so that’s a major factor.)

And the ratio of African-American voters remains extremely high: 37% of the early votes were cast by black voters, who make up just 29% of the state’s electorate.

Obama Campaign’s Response to McCain’s ACORN LetterSeptember 23, 2008

Honorable John C. Danforth

Honorable Warren B. Rudman

McCain-Palin 2008

P.O. Box 16118

Arlington , VA 22215

Dear Senator Danforth and Senator Rudman:

           We have received your letter of September 15, 2008, informing us of the formation of what you call the “Honest and Open Election Committee” by the McCain-Palin Campaign.

            However attractively labeled, this seems a starkly political maneuver to deflect attention from the reality of the suppression strategies pursued by national,state and Republican party committees.  This has been the shameful history of the party from the Goldwater “Operation Eagle Eye” program to the present day—a history replete with instances of systematically planned and executed programs to block access to the vote for targeted communities of voters.

           In 2004, the Republican Party, on the eve of the general election, mounted challenges to tens of thousands of voters in Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin based on “caging lists,” that is, lists of returned mailers or based on similar information providing no legitimate grounds whatsoever for such challenges.  None of these challenges, to our knowledge, was upheld and accusations of voter fraud by national Republican Party leaders were proven utterly baseless.

           Now,in 2008, the Republican Party again appears determined to engage in tactics and strategies to deny the right to vote to qualified citizens:

·        In Michigan, the chairman of Macomb County Republican Party has threatened to use lists of persons whose homes have been foreclosed to challenge those persons at the polls.  Only after public exposure, did he deny that this was the plan for Macomb County, and this matter is now before the federal district court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

·        In Florida, the RNC has mailed non-forwardable letters to Democratic voters asking them to “confirm” their party affiliation as Republican—thereby raising doubts about their registration status and creating the basis for possible challenge lists.  Even top Republican election officials in Florida, including the Secretary of State,have publicly condemned this tactic.

·        In Wisconsin, the Republican Attorney General, who serves as co-chair of the McCain-Palin campaign in the state, has filed suit challenging the refusal of the state’s own election administration authorities to throw thousands of voters off the rolls based on dubious and impractical matches of identifying information.

·        In Ohio, Republicans are challenging the decision of the Secretary of State to allow first-time voters to obtain an absentee ballot at the time they register even though the law clearly affords this right.

Manifestly, the confusion,uncertainty, deprivations of rights and interference with efficient election administration created by these tactics, and similar ones that the Republican Party has used in recent election cycles, cannot be effectively addressed by the creation late in the day of “committees” with gloriously self-serving names. Rather, the best way to address them is for responsible Republican leaders like both of you to speak out, loudly and forcefully, to condemn these tactics, to insist that they be shut down once and for all and then to make sure that they are.

   This is what we would hope that you could accomplish.  If your concern truly lies with ‘Honest and Open Elections”, then your work is properly and effectively begins at home–with the Republican operatives who are planning and running these suppressive programs and who are being directed in these activities by the same national McCain and party leadership that recruited you to this “Committee”.

Sincerely yours,

David Plouffe,

Campaign Manager, Obama for America

• Job Creation: A New American Jobs Tax Credit. Obama is calling for a temporary tax credit for firms that create new jobs in the United States over the next two years.
• Relief to Families: Penalty-Free Withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s in 2008 and 2009. Obama is calling for new legislation to allow families to withdraw 15% of their retirement savings – up to a maximum of $10,000 – without facing a tax-penalty this year (including retroactively) and next year
• Relief to Homeowners: 90 day foreclosure moratorium for homeowners that are acting in good faith. Financial institutions that participate in the Treasury’s financial rescue plan should be required to adhere to a homeowners code of conduct, including a 90-day foreclosure moratorium for any homeowners living in their homes that are making good faith efforts pay their mortgages.
• Responding to the Financial Crisis: A Lending Facility to Address the Credit Crisis for States and Localities. Obama is calling on the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to work to establish a facility to lend to state and municipal governments, similar to the steps the Fed recently took to provide liquidity to the commercial paper market.

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
“A Rescue Plan for the Middle-Class”
As Prepared for Delivery
Monday, October 13th, 2008
Toledo, Ohio

EXCERPT 

We can’t wait to help workers and families and communities who are struggling right now – who don’t know if their job or their retirement will be there tomorrow; who don’t know if next week’s paycheck will cover this month’s bills.  We need to pass an economic rescue plan for the middle-class and we need to do it now.  Today I’m proposing a number of steps that we should take immediately to stabilize our financial system, provide relief to families and communities, and help struggling homeowners.  It’s a plan that begins with one word that’s on everyone’s mind, and it’s spelled J-O-B-S. 

We’ve already lost three-quarters of a million jobs this year, and some experts say that unemployment may rise to 8% by the end of next year.  We can’t wait until then to start creating new jobs.  That’s why I’m proposing to give our businesses a new American jobs tax credit for each new employee they hire here in the United States over the next two years. 

We will also save one million jobs by creating a Jobs and Growth Fund that will provide money to states and local communities so that they can move forward with projects to rebuild and repair our roads, our bridges, and our schools.  A lot of these projects and these jobs are at risk right now because of budget shortfalls, but this fund will make sure they continue. 

…At a time when the ups and downs of the stock market have rarely been so unpredictable and dramatic, we also need to give families and retirees more flexibility and security when it comes to their retirement savings.  …Since so many Americans will be struggling to pay the bills over the next year, I propose that we allow every family to withdraw up to 15% from their IRA or 401(k) – up to a maximum of $10,000 – without any fine or penalty throughout 2009.  This will help families get through this crisis without being forced to make painful choices like selling their homes or not sending their kids to college.

…For those Americans in danger of losing their homes, today I’m also proposing a three-month moratorium on foreclosures.  If you are a bank or lender that is getting money from the rescue plan that passed Congress, and your customers are making a good-faith effort to make their mortgage payments and re-negotiate their mortgages, you will not be able to foreclose on their home for three months.  We need to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet. 

…It also means promoting a new ethic of responsibility.  Part of the reason this crisis occurred is that everyone was living beyond their means – from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street.  CEOs got greedy. Politicians spent money they didn’t have.  Lenders tricked people into buying home they couldn’t afford and some folks knew they couldn’t afford them and bought them anyway. 

We’ve lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits; to borrow instead of save.

Now, I know that in an age of declining wages and skyrocketing costs, for many folks this was not a choice but a necessity.  People have been forced to turn to credit cards and home equity loans to keep up, just like our government has borrowed from China and other creditors to help pay its bills.

But we now know how dangerous that can be.  Once we get past the present emergency, which requires immediate new investments, we have to break that cycle of debt. Our long-term future requires that we do what’s necessary to scale down our deficits, grow wages and encourage personal savings again.

It’s a serious challenge.  But we can do it if we act now, and if we act as one nation.  We can bring a new era of responsibility and accountability to Wall Street and to Washington.  We can put in place common-sense regulations to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again.  We can make investments in the technology and innovation that will restore prosperity and lead to new jobs and a new economy for the 21st century.  We can restore a sense of fairness and balance that will give ever American a fair shot at the American dream.  And above all, we can restore confidence – confidence in America, confidence in our economy, and confidence in ourselves.

Wow….more Republicans fall out of line after being frightened away from McCain and his campaign.  RedState co-founder Joshua Trevino wrote on his blog yesterday that he just could not bring himself to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket.  And rather than keep this treachery to himself, Trevino decided to confess for all his fellow republicans to see.  His fellow republicans in Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, and all the other battleground states.  This suggests to this observer that perhaps Trevino is saying that, in his eyes, McCain-Palin is not equipped for the task of leading the nation.   See article.

In the end, I couldn’t do it. My California ballot arrived in the mail today, and I opened it fully intending to vote for John McCain. I filled out the state propositions first — yes on 8, no on everything proposing a new bond or new spending — then the local offices, straight Republican excepting Kevin Johnson for (nonpartisan) Sacramento mayor. Finally, the vote for President of the United States: an academic exercise in California, where Barack Obama will surely win by a crushing margin. But good citizenship demands voting as if it matters. Do I believe in John McCain? Not as much as I used to. Do I believe in Sarah Palin? Despite my early enthusiasm for her, now not at all. Do I believe in the national Republican Party? Not in the slightest — even though I see no meaningful alternative to it. So, my choice for President in 2008, scrawled in my ballot as an act of futile protest, is Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. If nothing else, I am confident this is the first of several votes I will cast for him in years to come.

There is open mutiny in the GOP regarding John McCain and his campaign.  William Kristol, GOP conservative columnist, said this weekend on Fox News Sunday that McCain is running a “stupid” and “pathetic” campaign.  Kristol went on to say that the campaign has no strategy and they are flailing around with absolutely direction.  Kristol further opined that the McCain campaign does things that don’t work and they keep on doing them.  The campaign and it’s candidate are giving conflicting messages to put it mildly.  The entire operation is in complete disarray.  This is a blinding bright light peaking into what a McCain administration would look like and how McCain would would lead it.  Complete chaos.  Do you really think that McCain is capable of running this country given the state of of his campaign?  The McCain campaign strategy is a series of reactions with no long term plan. The Arizona senator has proven this by not bothering to put together a transition team, having no economic plan, having no exit strategy for Iraq, and on, and on.  McCain strategic plan for winning this election…..hope for a national security emergency to pop up at the last minute.  However, even if such an emergency did happen, McCain has showed that he is the worst candidate to handle it.  In both debates, Sen. Barack Obama has demonstrated leadership and a calm level headininess that we expect from our leader in a national security crisis.  McCain’s reputation as a warmonger and his demonstrated tendency to overreact and respond in an excitable and reactionary way shows that he is more likely, in a national security emergency, to make the situation much worse.  The senator from Arizona has no vision for putting America back on track. 

American Research Group has just released its West Virginia poll and Sen. Barack Obama is ahead 50% to 42%.  West Virginians were asked the following question:

If the general election were being held today between John McCain for president and Sarah Palin for vice president, the Republicans, and Barack Obama for president and Joe Biden for vice president, the Democrats, for whom would you vote - McCain and Palin, Obama and Biden (names rotated), or someone else?

A pool of 600 likely voters said that they would vote for Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden to be the next president and vice president of the United States of America.  This is a bleak sign for Sen. John McCain.  Bush carried West Virginia both in 2000 and 2004.  If McCain is eight points behind in West Virginia, the paths to victory are dwindling even further for the Arizona senator.

Our economy is in horrendous shape and Sen. John McCain thinks that the American people haven’t noticed?  Yesterday, the dow plunged almost 700 points, the NASDAQ dropped 95 points, ands the S&P dropped 75 points, but what is the McCain campaign focused on?  Baseless inflammatory accusations against Sen. Barack Obama.  Where is your plan Sen. McCain?  Where is your plan to fix the economy?  Inciting right-wing lunatics into making violent threats against your opponent is not a plan. I t is however, a desperate, pathetic attempt to win at any cost.  People are worried about their job, their home, their retirement account, their savings account, and the fact that McCain thinks that he can distract voters with insidious nonsense rather than offering real solutions, is insulting to the average voter’s intelligence. 

I guess that we should not be surprised by McCain or the Republican party when it comes to the level of distraction in which they will engage in order to steal this election.  The swift boatee has now become the swift boater.   The fact that the McCain is banking on a not so silent whisper campaign of racism as it’s primary campaign strategy is dishonorable and pathetic.  It also speaks to the erratic, ridiculous, and spasmodic  nature of the Arizona senator’s managing style.  For example, lets discuss the transition plans of both candidates shall we?  McCain’s transition team is nonexistent…McCain has decided not to worry about such things now because he doesn’t want to jinx it.  Yes, that is actually his true reason and spoken like a true gambler I might add.  This is unprecedented.  No primary candidate in history has ever not had an elaborate and intricate plan of transition into the White House for when the current occupant exit.  Why…because the new occupant has to hit the ground running and will not have time to engage in the very detailed vetting process of making appointments, staffing key positions, developing policy positions, etc.  Obama on the other hand has developed an elaborate network that is staffed with dozens of key people with very impressive resumes to help prepare for his possible move to the White House in January 2009.   It has never been more critical that the transition from one administration to the next is as seamless as possible given the current state of our nation’s affairs.  I guess McCain’s plan is to just wing it.

Finally, this is a time that we as a people need to come together and unify the country to try and navigate our way out of our current economic adversity.  However, McCain and his campaign has decided that divisiveness and winning at all cost is much more important.  Apparently, the current state of our nation in crisis is a distant last when it comes to the unbridled desires of John McCain.  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is offensive.