John McCain, Barack Obama campaign in key Midwest states
The Democrat focuses on energy in Ohio as the Republican tackles women's issues at a Wisconsin town hall meeting.
DAYTON, OHIO — Democrat Barack Obama focused on energy today while Republican John McCain campaigned on women's issues as the presidential campaigns turned to two pivotal Midwest states.
McCain, who tried to focus on economic issues this week, sounded the same themes as he spoke before a virtually all-woman town hall meeting in Hudson, Wis. Earlier, he spoke with female business owners.
As he has before, the Arizona senator said he wants to cuts taxes and explained that that would help women. He spoke a day after Obama campaigned on women's issues in New York and Virginia.
"Yesterday in New York, Sen. Obama went on at great length about how much he cares about women's issues," McCain said. "I believe him. But when you cut through all the smooth rhetoric, Sen. Obama's policies would make it harder for women to start new businesses, harder for women to create or find new jobs, harder for women to manage the family budget, and harder for women and their families to meet their tax burden."
In introducing the McCains, one female executive discussed her struggle to lose weight and a shopping trip to a department store.
Cindy McCain then told the audience of about 500 that the best way to lose 30 pounds was to be out the campaign trail. She added that the pants she was wearing were two sizes too big.
Obama was in Dayton, where he spoke on energy and security issues. The Illinois senator said he agreed with McCain's recent comments that the United States' "dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been 30 years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long-term about the future of the country."
Then, the Democrat blamed McCain for being part of the problem because he has been in Washington for 26 years, emphasizing a frequent theme Obama has used against the likely Republican presidential nominee.
The candidates were in states that are crucial to their November hopes.
President Bush lost Wisconsin twice, but Democrat John Kerry won it in 2004 by only about a third of a percentage point. The McCain camp believes it has a shot at winning the state's 10 electoral votes, though recent state polls show Obama running about 10 points ahead.
Ohio, with its 20 electoral votes, has been won by every president since 1968. Obama lost the Democratic primary to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who ran strongly among white blue-collar voters, a group that McCain and Obama have been courting.
Recent polls vary, some showing a dead heat and others have Obama running slightly ahead.
On energy, Obama attacked McCain's proposal for a holiday on the federal gasoline tax for summer driving and the Republican's call for increased offshore drilling.
Obama outlined his energy plan, which includes $150 billion over 10 years for research into oil alternatives and conservation.
maeve.reston@latimes.com
louise.roug@latimes.com
Reston reported from Wisconsin; Roug from Ohio. Times staff writer Michael Muskal contributed from Los Angeles.
