Obama Makes Blue-Collar Pitch In Michigan

Democrat Campaigns In Key General Election Battleground, Pledges $200M For Manufacturing Sector

(CBS/AP)  Democrat Barack Obama, campaigning in a state that poses several problems for him in the fall, appealed to working-class voters Wednesday with a pledge to pump an extra $200 million a year into efforts to revitalize the nation's manufacturing sector.

One day after blue-collar workers overwhelmingly rejected him in West Virginia's presidential primary, Obama came to this auto-making suburb of Detroit to announce plans to create an "advanced manufacturing fund" to promote industries likely to keep jobs in the United States rather than see them move overseas.

The attention the Obama campaign is paying to general election states - Missouri on Tuesday and Michigan today - are signals that West Virginia is seen as a blip on his campaign radar, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds.

Obama also stepped up his criticisms of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, saying the Arizona senator offered no solutions when he told Michigan voters in January that many of their lost jobs would not come back.

McCain "was right" about that, Obama said in remarks prepared for a midday speech. "But where he's wrong is in suggesting that there's nothing we can do to replace those jobs or create new ones."

He proposed spending $90 million a year to double the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The program has helped manufacturers improve efficiency and growth, Obama said, but has been underfunded. Another $100 million annually would launch the advanced manufacturing fund, which would award grants to businesses working with researchers to develop and expand products and efficient practices.

The Illinois senator spoke to union workers and their families at Macomb County Community College in Warren, Mich., after touring a Chrysler plant in Sterling Heights. The region is rich in so-called Reagan Democrats, who have often abandoned the party when it nominates candidates they view as too socially liberal, but who also have rejected Republicans they see as insufficiently concerned about working-class families living from paycheck to paycheck.

Strategists see Michigan as a must-win state for Obama. Democratic presidential nominees have carried it in recent elections, but by narrow margins, and McCain has campaigned here several times.

A scheduling quarrel caused the national Democratic Party to essentially nullify Michigan's Jan. 15 primary, and Obama neither campaigned in the state nor had his name on the ballot. Now, within reach of securing the nomination despite Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's big win in West Virginia, Obama is trying to make up for lost time. He also hopes to soothe the anger and confusion that many Michigan Democrats feel over the intraparty fracas, which has yet to resolve how the state's delegates will be seated at the August Democratic convention.

In a bright spot for Obama, he picked up three more superdelegates after the West Virginia loss, offering fresh recognition from Democratic leaders of his inevitable nomination.

His campaign announced the support of Rep. Peter Visclosky of Indiana and Democrats Abroad chair Christine Schon Marques, who will get only a half vote at the national convention because the Democrats Abroad send double their allotted superdelegates and give them each a half vote.

A third superdelegate, College Democrats vice president and University of Wisconsin-Madison student Awais Khaleel, also announced Obama is his choice in video posted on YouTube.

Clinton also picked up a superdelegate, Tennessee Federation of Democratic Women Vicky Harwell, her campaign said.

An embattled Clinton is urging party leaders to take a hard look at West Virginia, which she won with 67 percent of the vote. But her victory did little if anything to knock Obama off stride as he approaches the 2,025 delegates needed to give him the presidential nomination.

"While Clinton’s decisive West Virginia win doesn’t change the overall direction of a race that is lurching toward an end, it won’t help Obama in his transition to a general election campaign," said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs. "And there are continuing signs which, if not a threat to his ability to win the nomination, can’t be comforting for him or his party."
(Click here to read Ververs' full analysis).

Including delegates won in West Virginia and new superdelegates, Obama has 1881 delegates to Clinton's 1711. (Click here for the full CBS News state-by-state tally.)

[michiganian3]

If Obama had no more respect for voters in Michigan to be on the ticket in the first place, he has no need to be here now.

Voters in Michigan voted in the primary because we were told it was the presidential primary. So.......we voted. His name was not on ticket, he chose not to, so now he needs to leave.
If we weren''t good enough for him then, he has no business being here now.

Hillary has a manufacturing initiative too and so does not Governor Granholm. As a voter from Michigan I am saying we do not need him. We''ll manage.

Good bye Obama

HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT

[ianlou]

I heard Obama had to double his security detail in
Michigan!!
Posted by truthyness

Obama spoke in Grand Rapids, Michigan; one of the most church going, Republican cities in the state and the number one city for charitible contributions in the nation last year. The majority of Grand Rapids voters may not plan to vote for Obama but I bet he would be hard pressed to find a more polite crowd.

[ianlou]

VOTE OBAMA !!! TIME FOR BLACKS TO RISE ABOVE THE WHITE RACE -- ITS OUR TIME NOW !!!!
Posted by eatmochickn

eatmochickn, why do I suspect you are a white redneck trying your hand at race baiting?

[zavatchen]

I am just totally disgusted with O''Bama. Early on I might have considered voing for him, but not now. Wink and Nod on Canadian NAFTA comment, not really bringing troops home at rate he was telling the American people (comment by his foreign policy adviser to British press), putting his long time friend and pastor under the bus (no guts) and a campaign that convieniantly cries "racism" whenever the going gets tough.
Another life long Democrat who will be registering as an Independent in my life long future.

[truthyness]

Stay out of Michigan Obama, we know who you are

and what you did.

[gogam]

Continued...to Middlecrank:

We all have values and admittedly our values are not the same. For you, experimentation with illegal substances seems to be acceptable and maybe even a rite of passage. I don''t agree. I believe my body has all the ingredients to make me as happy as possible without said substances.
I don''t condone their usage in any form. Therein lies the difference. Your experiences differ from mine but I would think most Americans would agree with me that drugs are NOT a good thing.
If a PRESIDENT embodies your mentality then it must mean that drugs are a viable choice for experimentation as long as no addiction occurs. Isn''t that an implicit endorsement of their existence? May it be a far stretch to say that this president may fathom at some point to legalize (in certain situations) these very substances that you think is OK? To me that''s a scary thought and that''s where are values clash.
Your beliefs and values are different from mine but racism is not a determinant in my opposition to Obama. It just comes down to which candidate''s values are the closest to mirroring mine.

[chulanow]

Obama has proven to be the typical dirty politican who will say and do anything to win.

He threw his grandmother under the bus in an effort to prove how racist white people were.

Remember the "Typical white person" remark.

However when he wanted to show that he was part of the white crowd he ran a news article telling us what a great and progressive person his grandmother was and how she was the first female V.P. of the Bank of Hawaii and how he had attended Punahoe a private/exclusive school in Oahu.

This story also revealed Obamas previous stories about how his grandparents struggled financially to raise him were obviously false.

Obama also supported and defended his racist pastor when he thought it was beneficial do to so in order to keep getting the black vote.

He then threw his pastor under the bus when he thought it was politically beneficial to do so.

Obama denounced wearing the flag pin because it was a mindless way to express patriotism.

However, NOW that the polls show that he is having issues getting the blue collar votes and how he is seen as having some of the same anti-american views as Rev. Wright....guess what Obama does...

Correct....he starts wearing the flag pin in order to pretend to be patriotic and get us to forget he sat in the pews and applauded the anti-american and racist remarks of Rev. Wright.

Obama will say and do anything and cannot be trusted!!!

[gogam]

Middlecrank says, "Gogam, what is disingenuous is your bashing Obama for his VERY limited drug use and not Bush''''s full-on alcoholism by the age of 39. Alcohol is a drug. Obama experimented a couple of times. I''''d be more concerned if he hadn''''t! What is your REAL issue? I believe you in fact, ARE a racist! Ick. "

Sir/Madam;Your words betray your loyalties and mental faculties. You have a right to believe what you want but your argument is a feeble attempt at persuasiveness. How is Bush relevant in our discussion on the nominees?
Furthermore, alcohol is legal. Marijuana and cocaine is NOT. Unless you are talking about another country I think it''s safe to say that the entire American legal system agrees on this point.
People have choices in life. Obama made his and I made mine as you have made yours. I have never used ANY drugs in my entire 40 years of life and I have had no regrets. But I''ll vote for a candidate that represents a person like me rather than be persuaded by the media, campaign propaganda or peer pressure.
If I think someone is not quite right for the job I will not be forced to accept him just because MOST people are enamored by his presentation and eloquence.
The microscope is not on the imbecile in the White House but rather on the one who wishes to replace him.

[lefeaoux]

Would someone PLEASE disable LeFeaoux''''s PASTE key? PLEASE!? It''''s like a very tired broken record in here. Go turn on your Fox news and leave us alone to have real discussions.

Posted by middlecrank at 07:34 PM : May 14, 2008

From the mouth of a Revered BLACK MAN! You MUST watch this video if you support Hussein Obama!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/
ATLAHWorldwide



Another must see for Hussein Obama supporters!

http://www.eyeblast.tv/Pu
blic/Video.aspx?rsrcID=2036

[lefeaoux]

Sounds just like the trash we see them spew in here every single day. Coincidence? I think not!

[lefeaoux]

Liberals claim to be looking for "A Change We Can Believe In" but being that he denounces Israel and supports Hammys, and palestine THIS is what Obama stands for:

TEHRAN, Iran %u2014 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Israel is dying and that its 60th anniversary celebrations are an attempt to prevent its "annihilation."

He spoke hours after President Bush arrived in Israel for the anniversary celebrations.

"The Zionist (Israeli) regime is dying," said Ahmadinejad during a speech in northern Iran. "The criminals assume that by holding celebrations ... they can save the sinister Zionist regime from death and annihilation."

[truthyness]

I heard Obama had to double his security detail in

Michigan!!

[nanging3]

www.youtube.com/user/ATLAHWorldwide


Must Watch !
A Black Harlem Minister Threatning White Americans if Obama gets elected !!!

[whitepicks2]

I said it once, I''ll say it again...Michigan stands to gain millions in research dollars for the plug-in hybrids. And thousands of manufacturing jobs in both building these cars and the renewable energy equipment to power them down the road. Support Obama''s plan.

[jeffstersf]

Would someone PLEASE disable LeFeaoux''s PASTE key? PLEASE!? It''s like a very tired broken record in here. Go turn on your Fox news and leave us alone to have real discussions.

[jeffstersf]

Gogam, what is disingenuous is your bashing Obama for his VERY limited drug use and not Bush''s full-on alcoholism by the age of 39. Alcohol is a drug. Obama experimented a couple of times. I''d be more concerned if he hadn''t! What is your REAL issue? I believe you in fact, ARE a racist! Ick.

[lefeaoux]

From the mouth of a Revered BLACK MAN! You MUST watch this video if you support Hussein Obama!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/ATLAHWorldwide



Another must see for Hussein Obama supporters!

http://www.eyeblast.tv/Public/Video.aspx?rsrcID=2036

You''re better-off with McCain!!!

[omaar-101]

Hillary its... OVER

Source: Yahoo News/ Politics

John Edwards Finally Gives (Barack Obama) his Endorsement !!


Add John Edwards (+18) Delegates to Obama`s Total below...


Total Delegate Count

Updated 5:45 pmDemocrats | 2,025 Needed to Clinch

OBAMA (1,883)

EDWARDS 18

CLINTON (1,711)


Republicans | 1,191 Needed to Clinch

MCCAIN 1,337

HUCKABEE 231

ROMNEY 149

CBS News estimates. Includes super delegates.

[omaar-101]

Posted by eatmochickn: VOTE WHITE`S ONLY IN THE WHITE HOUSE, I`M A RACIST TOOL AND I`M SCREAMING FOR ATTENTION !!




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[omaar-101]

Source: Yahoo News/ Politics

John Edwards Finally Gives (Barack Obama) his Endorsement !!


Add John Edwards (+18) Delegates to Obama`s Total below...


Total Delegate Count

Updated 5:45 pmDemocrats | 2,025 Needed to Clinch

OBAMA (1,883)

EDWARDS 18

CLINTON (1,711)


Republicans | 1,191 Needed to Clinch

MCCAIN 1,337

HUCKABEE 231

ROMNEY 149

CBS News estimates. Includes super delegates.