Apr 30, 2008 2:49 pm US/Central
Democratic Candidates Woo Working Families
NEW YORK (AP) ―
Barack Obama teamed up with wife Michelle to court working families with talk of middle-class tax cuts and a little kitchen table conversation. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton hitched a ride to a gas pump in a pickup truck to illustrate the pain inflicted on ordinary families by skyrocketing prices.
Clinton was underscoring her call for a summer-long hiatus on collecting the federal gas tax and making the point graphically by pulling into an Indianapolis gas station in a pickup truck with sheet metal worker Jason Wilfing, 33, who pumped regular unleaded.
"Sixty-three dollars for just about half a tank," exclaimed Clinton.
The Obamas headed to suburban Beech Grove, where they had lunch and chatted with Mike and Cheryl Fischer, hearing their stories of struggle. He's a machinist at a local Amtrak facility where 77 jobs are threatened this summer.
"They say it's not personal," Fischer said. "Yes, it is very personal."
Their tactics were different, but the goal for both Democrats was to connect with blur-collar workers who will play a key role in presidential primaries next Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina.
"Michelle and I grew up in a pretty modest situation," said Obama, who said both of them understand the pressures facing working families.
"We are still so close to the lives most Americans are living," said Michelle Obama, who described herself as "a working mom."
"Work isn't a choice it never felt like a choice to me," she said. "Being a good mom, being a good wife, keeping your marriage together, these are the stresses people feel."
The Obamas sat around the kitchen table with the Fischers, with Michelle serving ice tea and diet soda. The Fischers are worried they'll be forced to move away from their three grown children if he loses his job. Fischer is 53 and his wife, a hospital technician, is 52. They are among the the middle-aged, blue-collar workers both Democrats are targeting.
"I know it means so much to have your folks stay put," Mrs. Obama said. "We live 10 minutes from my mom, who just retired, and there's nothing like having grandma right there."
It was the first time the Obamas have campaigned together since before Pennsylvania's April 22 primary.
Clinton held her own "kitchen table" conversation with a family in Hobart, Indiana, a blue collar town outside Gary, on Tuesday evening.
The former first lady sat at the table with Johnnie and Peggy Parker and their children and grandchildren, tea and cookies in front of her untouched. Reporters and cameras jammed in to record the meeting, overtaking the tiny house.
Clinton listened and nodded as Johnnie, a steet metal worker, described being out of work for 9 months, paying a steep price for COBRA health insurance to care for his wife, who has multiple sclerosis. Johnnie said he'd recently found another job and now has good health coverage through his union.
Clinton talked to the Parker children about school, asking which subjects they enjoyed studying. She also mentioned how she played softball in high school. "I played center field, and pitched a little," she said.
Clinton argues Obama has been insensitive to the needs of working families, while Obama said suspending the gas tax amounts to a mere pittance.
"It's not a real solution. It's a gimmick. I don't want to provide gimmicks," Obama said.
Instead, Obama said he would push for a middle-class tax cut that could save working families an average of $1,000 a year.
On a deeper level, the Obamas were seeking links to working families to ease concerns raised by comments by their former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which have offended some voters, and by some critics' suggestions that they are elitist and out of touch with workers.
Obama pointed to "the fact that both of us come from modest backgrounds, that both of us saw are parents struggle."
"We weren't born into wealth or fame or fortune, and Michelle didn't marry into wealth," he said.
There was an emotional moment at the Fischer home when Mrs. Obama approached their 19-year-old daughter, Abby Maddox, noting she was pregnant and her husband is about to be deployed to Iraq. The daughter teared up, and the two embraced.
While most polls have shown Obama favored in North Carolina, the race in Indiana is considered far to close to call.
Obama picked up the backing of three superdelegates during the day to Clinton's two, continuing to expand his overall delegate lead.
After the lunch, Obama headed to an Indianapolis park for a town hall meeting before about 30 people. He was asked how he's bearing up in light of the dispute with Wright, whom he denounced Tuesday.
"The situation with Reverand Wright is difficult, I won't lie to you," said Obama. "We want to make sure this doesn't become a permanent distraction."
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
