13,000 at Obama rally in Pueblo

PUEBLO • A combative Barack Obama brought his campaign back to Colorado on Monday, telling audiences here and in Grand Junction that Sen. John McCain's promise to change Washington is empty and that Obama is the only presidential candidate in touch with America's economic problems and ready to do something about them.

"In 19 months he has not named one thing he would do differently from this administration on the central issue of this election," the Democratic senator from Illinois said of his Republican rival. "Not one thing. And we know that if we go down that path, the next four years will look exactly like the last eight."

At a rally at the Colorado State Fairgrounds before a rollicking, doin'-the-wave crowd estimated by Chief Charlene Graham of the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department at 13,000, Obama delivered a slashing attack tied to economic headlines of the day - the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the forced sale of Merrill Lynch - and linking McCain to the policies of the Bush administration.

"This morning we woke up to some very serious and troubling news from Wall Street," Obama said, describing the turmoil as a threat to the American economy. "Today offers more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren't minding the store. For eight years, we've had policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation and encouraged outsized bonuses for CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans. The result is the most serious financial crisis that we've seen in generations.

"I certainly don't fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy that he subscribes to. It's the same philosophy that we've had for the last eight years - one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. How many people have felt prosperity trickling down here in Pueblo?"

The crowd jeered, and Obama continued: "Well, now, instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up - from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms on Wall Street."

Charging that the Arizona Republican is out of touch, Obama said, "I don't think John McCain gets what's happening between the mountains in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of power in Washington where he works. Because if he did get it, he would have different policies. Why else would he say that we've made great progress economically under George Bush?

"Why else would he say, today of all days - he said this just this morning - that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong? Senator McCain, what economy are you talking about?"

McCain's campaign accused Obama of distorting the GOP candidate's comments.

"Only Barack Obama would take a statement about the strength, ingenuity and resilience of American workers and American industry and turn it into a political distortion and attack," said McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds. "Barack Obama's short career as a public servant has been defined by pessimism, defeatism and weakness in the face of the great challenges of our time."

In his speech in Pueblo, Obama cast his relative lack of experience as an asset.

"I began this race as the one candidate who hasn't spent a lot of time steeped in the ways of Washington," he said, belittling his rival's long service in "the halls of power in Washington."

With seven weeks left till Election Day, polls continue to show Colorado as a toss-up. The latest statewide poll, conducted Sunday by Fox/Rasmussen, showed McCain leading Obama by 2 percentage points, well within the poll's 4.5-percent statistical margin of error. Other recent polls had Obama in the lead, but his margins have been shrinking since the Democratic National Convention in Denver last month.

Obama's campaign released a new television commercial accusing McCain of running some of the "sleaziest ads" ever seen - especially an ad that declares Obama supports sex education for kindergartners. The ad is a distortion of Obama's position. He supported legislation that would teach age-appropriate sex education to kindergartners, including information on rejecting advances by sexual predators.

Obama also chided McCain for another new commercial that promises "the change that we need."

"Does that sound familiar?" said Obama, gesturing toward the Obama ‘08 "Change We Need" placards being held aloft in the audience. "Instead of borrowing our lines and our slogans I wish he would actually borrow some of our ideas."

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The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact the writer: 476-1654 or dean.toda@gazette.com