Obama, Clinton Court Working Families

Ill. Senator Holds Kitchen Table Talk While Opponent Highlights Rising Gas Prices

(CBS/AP)  Barack Obama teamed up with wife Michelle on Wednesday to court working families with a little kitchen table conversation about tax cuts. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton hitched a ride in a pickup truck to a gas pump 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 by pulling into an Indianapolis gas station with sheet metal worker Jason Wilfing, 33, who pumped regular unleaded.
(Click here to read CBS News reporter Fernando Suarez's report on the complex logistics behind the campaign stunt)

"Sixty-three dollars for just about half a tank," exclaimed Clinton.

Wilfing told Clinton that the high price of gas means his family won't be able to take an annual summer trip to Lake Michigan.

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 Democratic presidential candidates was to connect with blue-collar workers who will play a key role in primaries Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina.

"Michelle and I grew up in a pretty modest situation," said Obama, who said they 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.

"I know it means so much to have your folks stay put," Michelle 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 appearances before Pennsylvania's April 22 primary.

Clinton held her own kitchen table conversation with a family in Hobart, Ind., 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 Parker, a sheet metal worker, described being out of work for nine months and paying a steep price for health insurance to care for his wife, who has multiple sclerosis. He 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 that Obama has been insensitive to the needs of working families, while Obama says that 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 our 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 Michelle Obama approached their 19-year-old daughter, Abby Maddox, noting that she is 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 too 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 holding up in light of the dispute with Wright, whom he denounced Tuesday.

"The situation with Reverend Wright is difficult, I won't lie to you," said Obama. "We want to make sure this doesn't become a permanent distraction."

[jack3213]

IT IS QUITE OBVIOUS THAT WOMEN FAVOR CLINTON AND BLACKS FAVOR OBAMA, LETS NOT DENY THAT. WHO FAVORS INTELLIGENCE, CREDIBILITY, AND EXPERIANCE? --THOSE WHO FAVOR MCCAIN...AND THERE CERTAINLY ARE ALOT OF WOMEN AND BLACKS WHO SEE THAT, TOO. FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE THINGS WILL "CHANGE" --DAY ONE-- IF A DEMOCRAT WERE ELECTED SHOULD KNOW THAT WITH A DEMOCRAT IT WILL NOT. DAY ONE MIGHT CHANGE SOMETHING AND THAT SOMETHING IS: HIGHER TAXES, GREATER SECURITY RISK, UNACCEPTABLE HEALTH INSURANCE, AND A WEAKER ECONOMY- NOT A STRONGER ONE- ( HOW CAN BE IT STRONGER IF YOU HAVE TO PAY HIGHER TAXES IN 2008-20012? THIS ISN''''T THE 1990''''S- TIME TO GET OVER THAT FACT ) IF VOTING FOR CLINTON OR OBAMA SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR GENDER OR RACE OR THINKING THEY ARE THE ANSWERS TO ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMS YOUR''''E IN FOR A VERY RUDE AWAKENING. SORRY.

[truthyness]

Obama doesn''t deserve to be

the first Black President...

and thats a big part of the problem.

[b-easy63]

So now HRC does not have to testify in the campaign fraud case against Bill that also implicates her--until AFTER the November elections? So says the judge who appears to not want the story about Hillary and this fraud to taint her bid for the Presidency. But why not? We don''''t need another Clinton impeachment when we find out what a lying fraud who stole money that she really is (they''''ve got VIDEO and the tape of her voice --Hilterly supporters!!)

Is this like Rezko? Nope--Rezko involved Obama''''s association with a questionable person. This involved HRC and Bill''''s questionable actions (and potentially illegal actions) with a questionable person. Big difference.

Obama''''s could harm his campaign, Hillary''''s could land her before a Grand jury and like DeLay--facing jail time: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/tal
k/2008/04/breaking-news-hillary-clinton.
php

[blkpresident]

Somewhere in NY a neglected kitchen stove needs a woman''s touch. Where''s lil'' Hillary? Still criss crossing the nation pipe dreaming about a woman becoming president, smirk. Somebody please tell lil'' missy that terrorist don''t play SOFTball or powder-puff football either.

[whitepicks2]

On the gasoline tax -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywQKYga6uMY

[jack3213]

MUST BE NICE TO TALK ABOUT GAS PRICES WITH A MILLION DOLLAR SALARY- WHAT A HYPOCRIT- THE BOTH OF THEM.

[barbjc1]

Americans, I am scared we will elect that liar (Barack Obama) as President of the United States. He has made me very uncomfortable since day one.
I know the Clintons don''t always tell the truth but at least they have not been known to be associated for 20 years with a radical anti-American blatant racist.
Reverend Wright is exercising his Freedom of Speech rights under the Constitution and not constantly changing his story after six weeks. Barack Obama is not someone to be trusted with this high of an office. I understand the youth of America wants change, so do I but I can guarantee you, not many of them are willing to put forth the effort. To them it is cool to show their friends how diversified they are.Then they go on to their next rally about something.