Obama visit not open to public

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's visit to Cape Girardeau will be a chance for him to hear the daily concerns of wage earners struggling with high food prices, high fuel prices and overseas competition, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said Monday.

Obama, D-Ill., will take part in an economic town-hall meeting today at Thorngate Ltd., the clothing manufacturer that has had a plant on Independence Street in Cape Girardeau for years. The event is limited to company employees, invited guests and the media.

There are no plans for an appearance open to the general public, the Obama campaign announced.

Obama is in the final stages of a fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. He has a substantial delegate lead on his rival, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Voters in West Virginia will cast ballots today, while voters in Kentucky will have their chance next week.

In the Feb. 5 primary in Missouri, Obama won the state but lost Cape Girardeau County by 57 percent to 39 percent.

Jerome Hulehan, a Cape Girardeau County Democrat and enthusiastic supporter of Obama, said the visit is a dream come true. "I am just ecstatic," he said. "I am a life-long Democrat, a John F. Kennedy liberal, and this is the guy we need to pull this country together."

McCaskill, who endorsed Obama early in the primary season, is a co-chairwoman of his campaign. It was Obama's idea to come to rural Missouri, not hers, McCaskill said. Too often, she said, Democratic candidates see Missouri only in terms of St. Louis and Kansas City. The last time a Democratic nominee visited Cape Girardeau was 1996, when President Bill Clinton kicked off his fall election campaign at Capaha Park accompanied by Hillary Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper Gore.

"This sends a signal that this is the kind of campaign that doesn't see America as red or blue but as Americans who want a different set of priorities in the White House," McCaskill said.

The message for today, McCaskill said, is that citizens have been hurt by tax policies skewed to help companies move jobs overseas, to help the rich avoid paying a fair share and by health care policies that ignore their concerns.

"He is anxious to begin talking about the disastrous economic policies that have placed so many Americans in a stressful economic position and to do it not just in places where people vote for lots of Democrats," McCaskill said.

To counter Obama's message, the Republican National Committee used retired U.S. senator Jack Danforth to call reporters and give an upbeat message about U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the likely GOP nominee. Danforth warned that many Obama policies would stifle the economy and cost jobs. He specifically pointed at Obama's call to increase the tax rate for capital gains — the profit on investments in stocks and businesses — as a bad idea.

Danforth also voiced support for McCain's idea to have a gas-tax holiday. While he acknowledged the proposal would cut funding to federal transportation programs, he said it shows a basic understanding of people.

"It shows two things about John McCain," Danforth said. "One, he is concerned about how the average American is faring in the current economic conditions. Secondly, it shows that when John McCain thinks about the economy, he thinks about reducing the burden of government. I credit him for both those thoughts."

And Obama's call for modifying the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, could be fatal to U.S. trade ties to Mexico and Canada, Danforth said. "If we are going to have a more cooperative relationship with the rest of the world, you don't start by poking a thumb in the eye of Canada and Mexico."

Danforth is wrong on both counts, McCaskill said. Changes in NAFTA would protect American workers and stem the loss of jobs to those nations, she said.

As for the capital gains tax, McCaskill said increasing the tax rate would help pay for tax breaks for working people. "The tax policies of George Bush have taken care of the very, very wealthy and delivered a gut punch to the middle class."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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