January 14, 2008
EAST LANSING - Republican presidential candidate John McCain had to like what he saw here Sunday - a massive crowd squeezed together like revelers at Times Square on New Year's Eve.
The crowd of perhaps 2,000 people packed a Kellogg Center hall where McCain promised a brighter economic future for Michigan and a cleaner planet.
McCain was criticized by Republican rival Mitt Romney last week after McCain said some of the manufacturing jobs that Michigan has lost won't come back.
"But there are new jobs, and we can create jobs," McCain said. "The future of this state is bright and wonderful" because Michigan has the innovation, technology and education to succeed, he said.
McCain and other Republican candidates are blanketing Michigan in the days leading up to Tuesday's presidential primary. Hillary Clinton is the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot here, and she isn't campaigning in the state.
Several Michigan polls have been released in the past few days, generally pointing to a tight race between McCain and Romney.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who stopped in St. Johns on Friday, and is third in the polls, will campaign in Lansing today.
McCain focused most of his remarks Sunday on the economy and the need for alternative energy. He said Michigan can rebound by leading the way in green technology and helping the United States reduce its dependence on foreign oil.
He said the evidence is overwhelming that climate change is real, and that alternative energy is essential. "I believe unless we do something different, that you're going to inherit a planet, or your kids are, that's going to be very badly damaged."
The Arizona senator said he would support more research and development to promote alternative energy and new community-college-based training programs for displaced workers.
"We are going to give them another chance.
We are going to be what America is all about and give them the education and
training not to go back to an old job, but to come back for a new job and one
that will earn them more money and be more satisfying and will contribute to the
challenges that this nation faces," he said.
Susan Beshore of Bath volunteered at an earlier McCain event in Howell and made it to the end of the program at MSU.
"He is an honest guy. He says what he
means, and that's what we need in politics," she said. "We don't need
necessarily a true politician. We need an honest person who's going to get
things done."
Jim Stiles, a union carpenter from Mason, said he likes McCain because he will secure the nation's borders to combat illegal immigration, which Stiles said is costing Americans jobs and lowering their wages.
David Wagoner of East Lansing said after McCain's speech that he was tentatively planning to vote for McCain but still was considering Huckabee.
His wife, Laura, said she will definitely vote for McCain.
"I think he has the most reasonable solution to Iraq, not something radical but something very reasonable and very sustainable," she said.
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