National polls have Senator Obama leading Senator McCain by as many as 10 percentage points, but McCain is pledging that the election is far from over. McCain’s campaign has been in the underdog position before and was able to bounce back in order to win the Republican nomination.
Both candidates were in swing states Monday, McCain in Virginia and Obama in Ohio, each making the case for why he is the best choice to lead American through the current financial crisis.
McCain says he would cut government spending and force the government to stick to a strict budget. Obama is focusing on increasing employment and creating jobs with a tax credit for business owners. This video shows clips of the candidates at their appearances and summarizes the state of the campaigns just 22 days before the election.
Quotes
“We have 22 days to go. We’re 6 points down. The national media has written us off. Senator Obama — Senator Obama is measuring the drapes. You know what they forgot? They forgot to let you decide. My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.” -Senator John McCain
“If I’m elected president, I won’t spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money on top of the $700 billion we just gave the Treasury secretary, as Senator Obama proposes. He can’t spend that much without raising your taxes or digging us further into debt. I’m going to make government live on a budget just like you do.” -Senator John McCain
“We’ve already lost 750,000 jobs this year. Some experts say that unemployment may rise to 8 percent by the end of next year. We can’t wait until then to start creating new jobs. That’s why I’m proposing to give our businesses a new American job tax credit.” -Senator Barack Obama
Warm Up Questions
1. How many more days until Election Day?
2. What are the biggest election issue in the presidential campaign?
3. What is the most important election issue to you and why?
Discussion Questions
1. What do you think McCain should be focusing on, or doing in his campaign to try to catch up with Obama in the polls?
2. Why do you think Obama is seeing an increase in support?
3. What are some of the things you want the next president to do to help the economy?
4. Does a candidate always follow through on promises made during a campaign? What are some of the pros and cons of a candidate promising things that might be difficult to carry out?
Additional Resources