DENVER — Sen. Barack Obama, who made tying Sen. John McCain to President Bush a centerpiece of his campaign for the White House, jumped on Mr. McCain’s comment Sunday that he and the president “share a common philosophy.”
“That’s right, Colorado. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk and owning up to the fact that he and George Bush actually have a whole lot in common,” Mr. Obama told a rally of more than 100,000 people in the city’s downtown Civic Center Park.
He said voters know the “Bush-McCain” philosophy serves up tax breaks to the richest Americans and big corporations that ship jobs overseas and squanders $10 billion a month on the war in Iraq while middle-class families in the United States suffer economic hardship.
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Mr. McCain’s claim of common ground with Mr. Bush, as well as the president’s casting an early ballot for the Arizona senator, reinforced Mr. Obama’s argument that his rival is allied with Bush adminsitration policies that many voters blame for the country’s economic turmoil.
“For eight years, we’ve seen the Bush-McCain philosophy put our country on the wrong track, and we cannot have another four years that look just like the last eight,” the Democratic presidential nominee said. “It’s time for change in Washington, and that’s why I’m running for president of the United States.”
Mr. Obama promised to give tax cuts to the middle-class, create millions of new jobs in the renewable energy industry and rebuild the country with New Deal-style public works projects.
Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, made the remark about his political philosophy on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He also said his underdog campaign was still competitive in battleground states and in a position to pull off an upset victory.
Mr. Obama’s campaign stops in Colorado capped a trip through Western swing states that historically vote Republican but are leaning toward the Democrat this year. Voters in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado — where Mr. Obama campaigned over the weekend — are poised to deliver nearly enough votes to hand Mr. Obama the election.
Colorado, which has backed a Republican in all but one presidential race since 1968, has trended Democratic in recent years, electing a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and to the governor’s office in 2006.
In 2004, Mr. Bush beat Democratic Sen. John Kerry by just a 4.7 percent margin, the fifth closest outcome of the 31 states won by the incumbent president.
Mr. Obama leads Mr. McCain in the state by five points in a Rasmussen Reports poll taken last week.
“We know that it’s time for new ideas and new leadership in the White House,” Mr. Obama said in Denver, where he accepted the party nomination in late August. “But Senator McCain voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time over the last eight years. Just the other day, George Bush returned the favor and voted early for John McCain. Well, Colorado, George Bush isn’t the only one who gets to vote early — you can vote early, too. And you can finally put an end to the Bush-McCain philosophy. You can vote for a new direction for our country. You can vote for change.”
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