Morning News

July 11, 2008

At events in New York and Virginia, [Barack Obama] drew a sharp contrast with John McCain, charging that the Republican candidate does not support equal pay or abortion rights.

And, with women worried about the effect of the economy on their families, Obama issued a report on how his economic policies would affect women and emphasized his proposals to increase tax breaks for child care, guarantee paid sick leave and raise the minimum wage.

"When you look at the economic issues that matter most to women, he will not bring change and I will," Obama said.

… On Thursday, [Hillary] Clinton introduced Obama to more than 2,000 people at a Women for Obama fundraiser in New York. "Barack would get up every morning and go to the gym, and I would get up and get my hair done," she said. "It’s just one of those Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire things that are part of our lives."

Then she then turned serious, saying the stakes are high.

"I would argue they are particularly high for women," she said. "It matters greatly who our president is."

Obama supports abortion rights and has pledged to increase funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

At the fundraiser, Obama pledged to the crowd, "I’ll never back down in defending a woman’s right to choose."

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Desma Kelly has never volunteered to help out a candidate running for office. And she hadn’t intended to on Thursday.

But after hearing Barack Obama speak at Robinson Secondary School, Kelly is going to pound the pavement for him.

"I’m willing to work for his campaign," she said.

Obama’s stop in Northern Virginia was targeted toward women like Kelly. About 2,800 people filled the Fairfax school’s field house to hear the Democratic candidate speak about his plans for improving economic opportunities for women and balancing the demands of work and family.

… "It’s wonderful to be back in Virginia," Obama said today. "We did well in the primaries in Virginia and we’re going to do well in the general election in Virginia."

From the Washington Post:

Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday at a town hall meeting in Fairfax County that if elected president, he would bolster the economy by helping working mothers. It was his second visit to the area since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee and occurred on a day when his likely Republican foe was also reaching out to Northern Virginia voters.

In the packed gymnasium at Robinson Secondary School, Obama told more than 2,000 supporters that as president he would work to expand paid family and medical leave, child-care services and preschool programs. These initiatives could be paid for in large part by ending the Iraq war, he said.

… The Illinois Democrat benefits from the state’s sizable African American population and his personal friendship with Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, whose wife, Anne Holton, accompanied Obama to the podium yesterday and delivered introductory remarks.

Obama’s campaign also expects to draw strength from a swelling, shifting Northern Virginia electorate that has helped usher a string of Democrats to victory in the state. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D), who is running for Congress and spoke before Obama yesterday, said his populous, blue-tinged county could lead Virginia to support a Democrat for president for the first time since 1964.

"If we do our job here in Fairfax County, we’re going to make sure that Virginia is carried by Barack Obama," he said.

From the Columbia Missourian:

Sheila Johnson is the single mother of 17- and 23-year-old daughters and has one grandchild. She’s also caring for an aging mother and trying to pay off more than $100,000 in student loans.

… "I have never, ever experienced the crunch I’m feeling now," the 40-year-old Johnson told Michelle Obama during a roundtable discussion of women’s issues Thursday at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"And I cannot imagine families who have not been as blessed as I am, how are they surviving, how are they able to make it from one day to the next?"

The roundtable discussion was one of a series of such gatherings Obama is holding to listen to women’s concerns and promote the presidential campaign of her husband, Democrat Barack Obama.

The five women chosen to talk to Obama were from varying economic situations, but they all discussed how difficult the economy has made it to pay bills and provide good lives for their children.

The main subjects they raised were the high cost of health insurance, college loans, gasoline prices and providing adequate education for children.

… Obama assured the audience that her husband would promote family friendly policies if he is elected. For example, she said, he supports universal health care, programs to defray the cost of a college education, investing billions in public education and ensuring that women are paid the same as men for similar work.

… Obama said her husband, who was raised mostly by his mother and grandmother, would remember women’s struggles if he becomes president.

"Barack is determined to change Washington so that we don’t just talk a good game about family values but that we actually develop real policies that have meaning to working women and families … to ensure that we are not just surviving, but we’re thriving," she said.

From CNN:

Every casino keeps a lot of money on hand, but few gamblers are confident enough to try to win it all. Barack Obama is doing just that — betting big as he campaigns across the US.

Officially, the plan is called the "50-State Strategy," and it gives you an indication of just how optimistic the Democrats are feeling.

The strategy gets its name from the fact that although the U.S. is made up of 50 states, no presidential candidate campaigns in them all.

… You’d rarely see a Republican candidate for the White House working to win over largely liberal New York; or a Democrat trying to rally conservative Montana.

This year, though, Obama’s campaign says it will be in all 50 states.