Free Republic

BARACK OBAMA says that he would "end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas" and blasts John McCain for refusing to condemn such loopholes. But the offshoring issue is more complicated than Mr. Obama's rhetoric suggests. Indeed, while there's no doubt that some individuals and communities are hurt by corporate decisions to shift manufacturing or other operations overseas, overall job creation may well benefit. Economists Mihir Desai, Fritz Foley and James Hines looked at U.S. manufacturers that expanded foreign operations between 1982 and 2004 and found that they tended to grow domestically as well, hiring more U.S. employees, paying...

Barack Obama 275 John McCain 263

Obama held a town hall and gave brief remarks on his economic plans. And used every opportunity to draw contrasts with McCain on tax policy, health care and energy, hitting the Arizona senator for running negative ads and repeatedly saying that he had not been truthful about issues ranging from dealing with high fuel costs to his support for alternative energy. "John McCain and I fundamentally disagree on how we are gonna move this country forward. He ran a negative ad -- which is most of the ads he runs -- he ran a negative ad that claimed all my...

For them, this is supposed to be the Democrats' year, an inevitable march towards the White House after the catastrophic defeats of 2000 and 2004. Almost everything seems to be going their way: unpopular president, disenchantment with the Iraq war, a faltering economy and an inspirational Democratic candidate. What is worrying the Democrats, in spite of all these pluses, is that Obama's poll lead has remained stubbornly small. A tracking poll by RealClearPolitics published yesterday has Obama on 46.9% compared with John McCain's 43.3%. "I think there are a lot of Democrats who are nervous," said Tad Devine, chief strategist...

(CBS) Barack Obama leads John McCain 45 percent to 39 percent in the latest CBS News poll. Despite Obama's highly-publicized foreign trip and McCain's recent high-profile advertisements, the findings are unchanged since a CBS News/New York Times poll released last month. The percentage of undecided voters - 13 percent - also remains steady. Obama's overseas trip, which was widely seen as a success, has not enhanced perceptions of his effectiveness as a commander in chief. Just 20 percent of those surveyed say Obama is "very likely" to be an effective commander in chief, down 4 percentage points from last month....

Almost 20 percent of women who voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton said they were now John McCain supporters, but Barack Obama was still leading in a poll of female voters. The Lifetime Network national poll showed that women were coalescing around their candidates but that neither had sealed the deal by breaking the 50 percent mark: Mr. Obama led Mr. McCain 49-38 percent. "Women will elect the next president," said pollster Celinda Lake, referring to the largest voting bloc in presidential elections. In most primary states, women were 55 percent or more of the electorate. Married women, who most often...

Growing doubts weaken Obama, polls show White, independent voters hedge S.A. Miller and Stephen Dinan Wednesday, August 6, 2008 Growing doubts among white working-class and independent voters blunted the momentum of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential run in recent days, leaving him in a tight contest with Republican candidate Sen. John McCain, pollsters say. "His bubble hasn't burst, but it's leaking a little bit," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "It is not massive. It is incremental, but we've seen it across the board in all of these states, that [Mr. McCain] is doing better among...

But a funny thing's happened on Obama's way to the White House. This potential game-changing demographic is beginning to sour on its onetime political crush. According to one recent poll, some young voters even appear to be doing the unthinkable - gravitating toward Obama's self-proclaimed "old-as-dirt" opponent. A freshly minted Zogby poll that grabbed headlines by highlighting a dramatic McCain comeback in the overall data also features a fascinating youth vote tidbit: "McCain gained 20% and Obama lost 16% among voters ages 18-29. Obama still leads that group, 49%-38%." ...As more young voters begin to perceive Obama as just another...