THE CRISIS on Wall Street is boosting Barack Obama in key battleground states and eroding John McCain’s lead in Florida, according to new polls published yesterday.
An NBC/Mason Dixon poll puts the Democrat two points ahead in Florida as support for Mr McCain has weakened among Hispanic voters.
A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that Mr Obama has regained the lead in Colorado and expanded his margin over Mr McCain in Michigan and Minnesota. The Democrat had fallen back in Wisconsin, although he is still seven point ahead in the state and according to a different poll, Mr McCain has moved back into the lead in New Hampshire.
Economic issues continued to dominate the campaign as treasury secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress on the proposed $700 billion nationalisation of distressed mortgages.
Campaigning in Ohio, Mr McCain said the government bailout should not be used to pay bloated salaries to executives at the troubled financial institutions.
“In any solution, we must see accountability, we must see transparency, and we must make sure taxpayers’ dollars don’t line the pockets of executives,” he said,
He insisted that he was ready to lead the US out of its economic misery and said he would create new jobs by opening new nuclear power plants and promoting clean coal technology.
“Not only will investment in our energy infrastructure create millions of new jobs across the country, it will help lead our nation toward the important goal of energy independence,” he said.
Mr McCain seized on remarks by Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden, who told a voter in Pennsylvania on Monday that the Democratic ticket did not support clean coal. The Obama campaign insisted that Mr Biden was making the point that China was building dirty coal plants and that the US should develop clean technology.
Earlier, Mr Obama chided his running mate for initially opposing the government’s $485 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG last week, a move Mr Obama declined to comment on at first. “I think that in that situation, I think Joe should have waited as well,” Mr Obama told NBC.
Mr Biden embarrassed the Democratic campaign on Monday when he described as “terrible” an Obama advert which mocked McCain as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate. Mr Biden backtracked later that day, saying that the advert did not appear to be “intentionally personal” in its criticism of Mr McCain.
“Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Sen McCain’s ads . . . his campaign is in no position to criticise, especially when they continue to distort Barack’s votes on an issue as personal as keeping kids safe from sexual predators,” Mr Biden said.
Both campaigns have sought to play down expectations ahead of Friday’s first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi, when the focus will be on foreign policy, an area commonly seen as Mr McCain’s strongest.
“Have no doubt about the capabilities of Senator Obama to a debate . . . He was able to defeat Senator Hillary Clinton . . . ” Mr McCain said.