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Obama woos working-class voters in Michigan


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WARREN, Mich. - Democrat Barack Obama, campaigning in a state that poses several challenges for him in the fall, appealed to working-class voters Wednesday with a pledge to pump billions of dollars 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.

Obama couched it as part of his previously announced plan to spend $150 billion over 10 years to develop and deploy what he calls "clean technologies."

In a new initiative, Obama proposed spending $90 million a year to double the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The program has helped manufacturers improve efficiency and growth, he 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. These voters have often abandoned the party when it nominates candidates they view as too socially liberal, but they have rejected Republicans they saw 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.
ajwashington

8 responses // Obama woos working-class voters in Michigan

  • My guess is that the people of Michigan will get it. They need a shot in the economic arm and leadership. Obama is the answer. He knows you can't just promise you actually have to act on it. These are real people and they are important too, he knows it.
    Marilynn_Murray
  • Good article ajwashington...

    As far as cleaner technologies concern, he needs to leave out the term "clean coal". There's no such thing clean coal. This stuff is still dangerous for the environment which will affect our air that we can't consume in our lungs. But all-in-all he is doing a good job of addressing these issues.

    This is why I think Gore should be in his cabinet (if he should when the general election) so he can be better informed.
    samee4U
  • This bullcrap about Obama not being able to pull the undereducated, white, blue collar vote is a steaming pile of hooey. African Americans make up roughly 12% of the American voting populace. And, there are probably no more white, affluent Ivy League overeducated voters than there are black voters. If all Obama was pulling wer African American and upper class white progressive votes, Hillary would have secured the nomination already. That means that whites from other walks of American society are supporting Obama. All that nothwithstanding, Obama is ahead of Hillary, despite these voter trends that only she's citing. Hillary said the same thing about the Hispanic votes, until abysmal Hispanic voter turnout nearly cost her Indiana. The few Hispanic voters who did turn out in Indiana overwhelming supported Obama. So, this claim is crap.
    recommended by  Marilynn_Murray
    96thdayofrage
  • Obama has more understanding of the working class. He came from there. Hillary hasn't a clue. She is so full of herself. Even the old white working class ladies are embarrassed for her. I got past that stage and the rest will follow. I now dislike her intensely. Let her pay her own living large bills. Donate to the DNC. It's about the country not Hillary.
    Marilynn_Murray
  • LMAO! "Let her pay her own living large bills." Okay? That's the only reason she's still loitering. If Obama were to agree to help her retire her $22 million campaign debt, she'd quit tomorrow. You now can't even send her a check. Her site demands a credit card number to get cash money right away. When you think of all the cash she raised back in January, you can't justifiably support her Presidency for fear that America will never EVER get out of debt.
    96thdayofrage
  • Well put 96thdayofrage...

    We don't want her bad business pratices at 1600 Pynv. Ave.

    Just can't afford it anymore after 8 long depressing years of Buuussshhhhhh.
    samee4U
  • I want Obama to keep his money and work on getting elected. I have my heart set on an electric train after he is elected, full size that will go from NY to SF at high speeds. Wouldn't that be something to find under the tree Christmas morning? Better than a pile of paid Hillary reciepts.
    Marilynn_Murray
  • Could'nt agree more, Marilynn...

    Well put.
    samee4U

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