McCain's "Joe the Plumber” tour rallies Florida supporters

ORMOND BEACH -- With the smell of sawdust in the air and planks of wood stacked around him, Republican presidential candidate John McCain hammered his tax cut promises and his opponent's encounter with ''Joe the Plumber,'' referencing the now famous ''spread the wealth'' remark more than half a dozen times at a morning lumberyard rally. McCain's rally at Allstar Building Materials in Ormond Beach was the first leg of McCain's ''Joe the Plumber'' bus tour, named for Ohio plumber Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher, who was catapulted onto the national stage following the last presidential debate when McCain used an encounter between Wurzelbacher and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to blast the Democratic ticket's tax plan.

The Obama campaign has said McCain is distorting his tax plan, and the candidate has repeatedly said that anyone making under $250,000 a year would get a cut under his plan. But Obama's off-the-cuff ''spread the wealth'' comment has become one that the McCain campaign is unwilling to let slide. 'He told Joe the Plumber in Ohio that he wants to `spread the wealth,' '' McCain said to a chorus of boos. ``He believes in redistributing wealth, not growing job opportunities for everyone. He's more interested in determining who gets your piece of the pie than he is in growing the pie.''

Despite the repeated shout-outs, America's most-famous handyman was nowhere to be found at the first leg of the bus tour, which continues across the state with a second rally in Sarasota Thursday afternoon. Instead, McCain was introduced by Gov. Charlie Crist and ''Tom the Lumberyard owner,'' Tom Crowe, who owns Allstar Building Materials. ''We've all been affected by the Wall Street and banking industry greed of the past year,'' Tom said as children perched on planks of wood hoisted McCain signs and craned their necks to get a better look. `It is not new news. But it has been bad news for me. I've closed an Allstar Building Materials location in Jacksonville, and I've laid off 130 employees in the past year.''

McCain's tactic appears to be working. - - A Mason-Dixon poll released Wednesday found McCain has reversed his slide in Florida to lead Obama by one percentage point (Latest Quinnipiac Poll: Obama +5; RCP Average: Obama +1 - TAB). And it's the third survey since McCain's repeated use of Joe's name in the last presidential debate to show that Obama's lead in Florida since late September has vanished. ''There's a Joe-the-Plumber effect to the degree that McCain finally found some sort of economic message that people can relate to -- taxes,'' said Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker, adding that taxes ''are a big, big deal'' in a state where residents won't stand for an income tax and can't stand high property taxes.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows McCain narrowing the gap with Obama in Florida, but fading in the battleground state of Ohio and barely denting Obama's double-digit lead in Pennsylvania. The Quinnipiac poll shows Obama leading McCain 49 percent to 44 percent in Florida, compared to 51 percent to 43 percent on Oct. 1. Pollster Peter Brown said Obama's margin over McCain is ''due mostly to stronger support from Hispanics than [John] Kerry received.'' Along with invoking Joe the Plumber, McCain also attacked what he considers Obama's lack of experience.

The experience card proved largely unsuccessful for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton during the drawn-out presidential primary season. But the strategy has made a comeback in the election's homestretch, appearing in McCain stump speeches and in TV ads by the Republican Party. ''I've been tested,'' McCain said. ``Sen. Obama has not been tested and it shows. I've been fighting for his country since I was 17 years old and I have the scars to prove it.'' However, while the economy was the focus of Thursday's rally, it also drew dozens of local veterans, a crucial part of McCain's base that is expected to play a big role on Nov. 4. And many of those voters said they'd made up their minds long before ``Joe the Plumber.''

''You feel that you can trust him, and you feel that there are going to be people behind him,'' said Linda Garabino, 52, the wife of a disabled Vietnam veteran. Richard Nelson, 73, a Korean War veteran from Ormond Beach, said national security was a bigger concern for him. ''I'm retired and I planned my future real well,'' he said. ``I want someone who will protect us from the terrorists and I believe he's the only one who can do that job because of his military background.'' With less than two weeks left before Election Day, McCain's day trip to a state he must carry to win the White House is a high-stakes event. In addition to the public rallies, he's expected to meet privately with business owners in Plant City and Orlando.

The area encompasses a high proportion of Florida's independent voters, making it one of the most contested parts of the state. Each campaign has held more than a dozen events in central Florida since the summer. At McCain's side on Thursday will be Gov. Charlie Crist, who has faced criticism in recent weeks for not doing enough for the Republican ticket. In an interview on CBS' Early Show Wednesday morning, the popular governor affirmed he was ``110 percent behind him.'' In another interview on Fox News, Crist said McCain should ``continue to focus on the state, continue to do the things that matter to my fellow Floridians. Talk about, you know, reducing their taxes, putting more of their hard-earned money in their pockets. That's a winning message, and that's John McCain's message.'' Crist, who likes to describe himself as a ''happy warrior'' on the campaign trail, prefers to extol McCain's background and agenda.

But the Republican campaign has been on the attack, with anti-Obama automated calls and mailings. In one flier sent to South Florida voters, the word ''terrorists'' is displayed using what looks like letters cut out from magazines, in the style of a ransom note. ''Why should we care what they have to say?'' the ad asks, pointing to Obama's willingness to meet with hostile world leaders like the president of Iran. It doesn't mention that Obama has said he would not talk to leaders of Hamas or other terrorist groups. In a telephone call with Florida reporters Wednesday, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a few hours after a campaign event in Tampa on Obama's behalf, called on McCain to stop the ``dirty tactics.''

The Miami Herald endorses Obama. McCain's bus tour is making five stops along the Interstate-4 corridor concluding with an evening rally in Sarasota. - TAB

10.23.08: Crist on the radio: Don't spread the wealth || Gov. Charlie Crist is hitting the airwaves today with a John McCain radio ad in which Florida's sunny chief executive almost brings himself to say something bad about Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. Here's the script: "This is Governor Charlie Crist. Let me tell you why I support my friend John McCain. He will lower your taxes. He will stop wasteful government spending. John McCain knows that people don’t want to 'spread the wealth.' He knows that Congress should let you keep more of your money, and not take it away. Thank you very much." Crist is campaigning with McCain today along the Interstate-4 corridor and plans to do more stump work for McCain-Palin over the weekend in South Florida. This a little more noteworthy than usual, perhaps, since the governor has been asked by Republicans to get more visible in the campaign, particularly paid media. - Orlando Sentinel (endorses Obama).

10.23.08 Video: McCain interview today with WPTV, West Palm Beach, FL

TAB

McCain goes after Obama in Ormond Beach Florida rally
Daytona Beach News-Journal (Endorses Obama)
by James Miller
October 23, 2008

ORMOND BEACH –- Republican presidential nominee John McCain struck a defiant tone this morning in a rally north of Ormond Beach, where he accused his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, of being willing to say anything to get elected and being unready to lead in a crisis. Flanked by local business owners and state Republican leaders, McCain hammered Obama on what many have argued is the Illinois senator’s strong point: the economy.
Obama, McCain said, is advancing an economic plan that would stifle small business by raising taxes on many of the people who own them. “Senator Obama is more interested in controlling who gets your piece of the piece of the pie than growing the pie,” McCain said at the rally, which was held in the lumberyard of Allstar Building Materials on U.S. Highway 1.

The Obama campaign issued a sharp response shortly after the Ormond Beach event. “Last week Senator McCain called Obama’s tax cuts for working people ‘welfare.’ Today he’s claiming Senator Obama doesn’t do enough to help the unemployed,” the statement said. “The only thing consistent about these attacks is how dishonest they are.”

Speaking to a loud audience that jammed the large lumberyard, McCain, a veteran senator from Arizona, said he was the candidate ready to lead the country in times of economic difficulty and global peril. “I’ve been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old, and I have the scars to prove it,” said McCain, a Navy veteran who was held prisoner of war in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. His message was well-received by a highly partisan audience. On Tuesday, organizers said they had asked for 4,000 tickets, which were almost gone by midday.

The Ormond Beach rally was the first stop on a bus tour centered on the Interstate 4 corridor today.

# # # # #

10.23.08 MSNBC: Ormond Beach, FL. – After giving a hard-hitting interview to the Washington Times yesterday in which he was stingingly critical of the Bush Administration, McCain continued his offensive today, forcefully calling on the Treasury Department to adopt his plan to purchase distressed mortgages. “Let’s go out and buy up the bad mortgages and give them a new mortgage at a level they can afford so you can stay in your home so if your neighbor defaults he doesn’t bring down the value of your homes with him,” McCain declared, banging on his podium. “And let’s realize the American dream. I call on the administration to act now and buy up these home loan mortgages and keep people in their homes. And why isn’t the secretary of the Treasury ordering them to do that?” In the past, McCain has expressed the opinion that this administration isn’t doing enough to address the housing crisis, but never as forcefully as today. He has never before so adamantly ‘called’ on the administration to act more aggressively to address the problem, but on a day when McCain is focusing on small businesses, his criticism became a bit more direct. And McCain ended his critique by asking the crowd of several thousand gathered in the loading dock of a local building materials factory a very pointed question about his opponent’s preparedness: “Are you ready to trust America’s national security to an untested leader in these times of war?”

# # # # #

Obama holds edge among early Florida voters
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Endorses Obama)
Lloyd Dunkelberger
October 23, 2008

Floridians continue to head to the early-voting polls in record numbers and a new poll shows Barack Obama with an edge among those early voters. Through Wednesday, 482,000 Floridians cast ballots at early voting sites _ an average of 161,000 votes per day with no signs yet of it decreasing. Democrats held a strong lead among those voters, claiming 55 percent of the ballots to 30 percent for the Republicans and 15 percent for independents and third-party voters. More than 1.6 million absentee ballots have been requested, with the Republicans claiming 48 percent of those ballots and the Democrats 36 percent.

A new poll from Quinnipiac University shows Obama leading John McCain among the early voters by a 48-44 percent margin, although the pollsters said Obama’s advantage amounted to a statistical tie since the lead was within the group’s margin of error. Overall, the poll, which was conducted Oct. 16-21 among 1,433 likely Florida voters, showed Obama with a 49-44 percent lead in Florida _ a slight narrowing from an Oct. 1 Quinnipiac poll that gave Obama a 51-43 percent lead. The poll has a margin of error of 2.6 percent. Obama leads among women voters by a 51-42 percent margin, while McCain leads among white voters by a 51-42 percent edge.

The poll showed Florida voters had a “slightly” negative view of Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate. Only 41 percent of the voters had a favorable opinion of the Alaska governor, while 43 percent were unfavorable. The economy remains the top issue among Florida voters, with a majority saying they trust Obama more than McCain on that issue. But McCain had the majority support on his ability to handle foreign policy as opposed to Obama.
Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute, said Obama has a lead because he has brought the former Hillary Clinton supporters into his camp. “The number of Sen. Hillary Clinton supporters who said they will defect to back Sen. McCain has dropped significantly,” Brown said in a statement.

McCain finally realized that simply telling people what Obama’s “change” means to a guy like “Joe the Plumber.” Now it is time to drive the point home. I suggest a series of commercials themed “Change, What Obama Means.”
Start with Obama talking about change and then ask a simple question, “but what does he mean?” Then for each commercial go into:

How his tax plan could not be delivered given the proposed spending.

How his tax plan would rob from small businesses and give to people who don’t pay a dime in taxes. (Joe did this already, but hit it again)

How he wants to silence those who disagree with him.

How he and his party want to hit people’s retirement by getting rid of 401(k) plans.

Finally, can McCain PLEASE hit Obama for univeral/socialized healthcare? How about getting someone who moved here from Canada. They can tell the story of having someone they cared for not get the care they needed because they had to wait to see a doctor and specialist due to socialized medicine forcing doctors from the profession.

I saw John McCain (also Cindy McCain & FL Governor Crist) at Robards Arena this evening! He was fantastic and he’s much more handsome in person than on TV....He just glows and has a wonderful smile & so does Cindy who is a very lovely woman.

The crowd was huge and the energy was electric! About 5000 filled the Arena to capacity and news reports said that a thousand more couldn’t get inside. It was the most exciting Rally I’ve seen in my 10 years of GOP political activism in Florida.

While we waited, I was interviewed by a NYC TV station. A French photographer asked to take a photo of a group of us who wore identical McCain - Palin tee shirts.

McCain highlighted small business people and how he’ll cut taxes to stimulate the economy and create more jobs unlike Obama who told ‘Joe the Plumber’ that he’ll raise taxes ‘to spread the wealth around’. One supporter in the crowd had a sign that said NO SOCIALISM....

John also talked about ‘Joe the Biden’s’ comments that Obama will be tested by an international crisis in 6 months if he’s elected. We saw many other homemade signs in the crowd....from Vets for McCain, from Joe the Doctor, Joe the Contractor, Joe the Grocer, etc.

After the Rally ended, supporters lined the parking lot and chanted USA as his bus was leaving. John & Cindy exited the bus (to the chagrin of the Secret Service) and walked along a yellow police tape to greet supporters.

It’s great to live in a ‘battleground state’ like Florida and be part of all this excitement.
I am now even more energized to work as hard as I can to help John & Sarah win because my grandchildren’s future depends on the outcome of this election.

If it wasn’t for the media bias which has not asked Obama any tough questions about his liberal policies or alliances with extreme left radicals, I think McCain would be ahead by 10 points.

John has spent his entire life since he was a young 17 year old Naval Cadet in service to America! He has demonstrated the character, integrity, courage and experience we need in a Commander in Chief. I pray Americans will decide that he’s the one they can trust to put our country first and provide the leadership we need in these dangerous and challenging times!

FRegards,
Julie

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.