Senior Political Reporter 5 hours, 31 minutes ago
GOFFSTOWN – Calling himself an underdog facing an over-confident opponent, John McCain returned to familiar territory yesterday, urging a crowd of more than 1,000 at St. Anselm College to "fight for what's right for America" and "don't give up hope."
GOFFSTOWN – Calling himself an underdog facing an over-confident opponent, John McCain returned to familiar territory yesterday, urging a crowd of more than 1,000 at St. Anselm College to "fight for what's right for America" and "don't give up hope."
The Republican presidential nominee portrayed Barack Obama as a
"detached" academic who, McCain said, views the "redistribution of wealth as an end in itself." "I'm asking you to come out one more time," said the two-time GOP New Hampshire primary winner. "I know I can count on you again to come from behind and take a victory and bring it all the way to Washington, D.C.
"I love you, New Hampshire," McCain, accompanied by his wife, Cindy, told supporters and students at the Thomas F. Sullivan Ice Arena. "Some of my happiest, happiest memories are here in this wonderful state. I feel I know you."
Granite State Republicans and GOP-voting independents delivered him come-from-behind primary victories over George W. Bush in 2000 and Mitt Romney in 2008.
"I've learned a lot of things over the years from the people of this state," said McCain, who held more than 100 town hall meetings in the state in each of his two primary campaigns.
"And I know one thing I've learned is it doesn't matter what the
pundits think or how confident my opponent is. The people of New Hampshire make their own decisions, and more than once, they've ignored the polls and the pundits and brought me across the finish line first.
"I can't think of any place I'd rather be as Election Day draws close than running an underdog campaign in New Hampshire," McCain said.
McCain said Obama "is looking pretty confident these days," with "another of those big stadium spectacles in the works," but he said that "acting like the election is over won't let him take away your chance to have the final say in this election."
The Obama campaign preceded McCain's visit with a new Web ad featuring five New Hampshire residents who formerly supported McCain but are now voting for Obama. Former Republican New Hampshire House Deputy Speaker Mike Hill says in the ad that McCain will not "bring change to Washington. I think John McCain is more of the same."
State Democratic coordinated campaign director Colin Van Ostern chided McCain for calling western Pennsylvania "the most patriotic part of America" earlier this week.
"I think we're all wondering how he'll rank New Hampshire," Van Ostern said. "Are we less patriotic in the Granite State than they are in western Pennsylvania?
"John McCain and the Republican Party continue to try to create a divide among Americans. These divisive tactics simply won't work in the Granite State," Van Ostern said.
But McCain, who has been trailing by small margins in recent state polls, focused on what is always a key issue in New Hampshire: taxes and government spending.
He said that Obama told now-famous "Joe the Plumber" his goal is to "spread the wealth around.
"In other words, Joe and guys like him will earn the wealth," McCain
said. "Barack and politicians like him will spread it ... And whatever the right word is for that way of thinking, the redistribution of wealth is the last thing America needs right now."
He said the country needs "policies that create wealth and spread opportunity."
McCain said that Obama, a Harvard Law School graduate, "talks about our economy in a detached and economic way, forgetting that the goal is not to redistribute the wealth but to create it.
"And the one thing academics are good at is inventing and redefining terms, which is what he's up to with that phony income tax cut for 95 percent of the American people."
He said that Obama's plan to give checks to those who do not now pay taxes will cause tax hikes for others, "including many small businesses and a lot of people like Joe the Plumber."
He charged that Obama is committed to nearly $2 trillion in new spending with "no explanation at all of how he is going to pay for it."
McCain called his own tax cut plan "the real thing," by doubling the child deduction for all families, cutting the capital gains tax, cutting business taxes and ending taxes on unemployment benefits.
He said Obama's energy plan will cost $150 billion over 10 years but "doesn't have much to do with actual production from existing energy sources, like offshore drilling or nuclear power," which McCain strongly backs.
McCain said the next President "won't have time to get used to the office" and "cannot invite testing from the world," as Obama running mate Joe Biden has predicted.
"What America needs at this hour is a fighter," McCain said, "someone who puts all his cards on the table and trusts the judgment of the American people. "Fight for a new direction for our country," McCain urged the crowd. "Fight for what's right for America."
The program began with Londonderry High School senior Zach Bencal singing the national anthem. Bencal was invited to sing the national anthem at an Obama campaign stop in Londonderry last Thursday, but the anthem was scratched so that time could be made for additional speakers, the Obama campaign said. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited at the Obama event and at yesterday's McCain event.
Also speaking yesterday were Republican U.S. Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu, gubernatorial candidate Joseph Kenney and congressional hopefuls Jeb Bradley and Jennifer Horn.
After his stop in New Hampshire, McCain was headed to key swing states Ohio and Florida
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