DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. – John McCain sought out thousands of Pennsylvania citizens at a rally at United Sports Training Center Thursday, and stressed the importance Pennsylvania will make in the 2008 presidential election despite conflicting polling number.Many polls show Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) holding a double-digit lead.
McCain’s visit was the first public campaign stop for the Arizona republican following the third and final debate, the previous night at Hofstra University.
“My friends, we had a good debate last night,” McCain said. “I thought I did pretty well.”
McCain avoided much of the conversation about Bill Ayers and other “negative” aspects that pundits, democrats, and some republicans have criticized McCain and his campaign. According to a New York Times polls, McCain and his staff were hurt by negative campaign ads.
McCain also continued to attempt to distance himself from President George W. Bush despite Obama’s attempt to tie McCain to the lowly approved president.
“I’m not George Bush. If [Obama] wanted to run against George Bush he should have run four years ago,” McCain said, a near exact repetition of what he said at the final presidential debate.
McCain focused the majority of the rally talking about the economy, at times even asking the crowd to settle down so he can have a “discussion.”
McCain said his first priority, as President, would be keeping Americans families in their homes and increasing home values. He also said he would take a hatchet to excessive spending and then use a scalpel.
“I’m going to make government live on a budget just like you do,” McCain said to the crowd. “I will veto every single pork-barrel bill congress passes.”
McCain also said that the Department of Treasury is not doing enough to keep people in their homes.
McCain continued to raise stardom of Joe the Plumber, a character based off an Ohio plumber who McCain cited over 20 times in the Wednesday night debate.
“The real winner last night was Joe the Plumber,” McCain said. “He won, and small business won across America, because the American people are not going to let Barack Obama raise your taxes.”
In the polls, Obama regained his eight-point lead in Saturday’s Gallup daily poll. However, in “traditional likely” voters Obama only maintains a 2 percent lead. The poll has a margin of error of two percentage points.
McCain continued his week with stops in the battleground states of North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, Colorado and Florida.
Frank Stern is a fourth-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at quadEIC@wcupa.edu.