Barack Obama drives through Florida

by John McCormick

SARASOTA, Fla. - With his frontrunner presidential campaign on cruise control, Sen. Barack Obama certainly had plenty of car analogies during a late-morning speech inside a baseball stadium here.

There was a "ditch," a "dead end street," a "back seat" and the suggestion that it was time to put "someone else at the wheel."

Obama has likely not driven a car himself for nearly two years, but that did not stop him from using a bunch of motoring references, including one while he expressed displeasure with a new report showing a decline in the nation's gross domestic product.

"Our economy is actually shrinking," he said. "All this didn't happen by accident. Our failing GDP is a direct result of a failed economic theory of eight years of trickle-down, Wall Street first, Main Street last policies that have driven our economy into a ditch."

Then, he echoed a new ad his campaign unveiled today. "If you want to know where Senator McCain will drive this economy, just look in the rearview mirror," he said, speaking to a crowd his campaign said totaled about 13,000.

Cars came up again when he suggested the nation has lost its way under a Republican administration for the past eight years.

"You've got to ask yourself, after nine straight months of job losses, the largest drop in home values on record, wages lower than they've been in a decade, why would we keep on driving down this dead end street?" Obama asked.

Pointing to his late-night appearance Wednesday with former President Bill Clinton, Obama suggested that undecided voters should not make this too complex.

"I've got an economic plan that's similar to Bill Clinton's," Obama said. "John McCain's got an economic plan that's similar to George Bush's. So all you have to do is look and see what works and what doesn't. This is not complicated."

In its response, Sen. John McCain's stuck with cars as well.

"If voters looked into Barack Obama's rearview, they'd see that he supported every one of Washington's wasteful spending bills and has voted for higher taxes 94 times in just three years," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "His economic proposals are driven by job killing tax increases and out-of-control spending. Barack Obama would drive this sputtering economy off a cliff."

Obama, meanwhile, again cautioned his supporters to not be over confident because of his strong standing in national and key state polls.

"We can't afford to slow down, or sit back or let up for one day, for one minute, for one second in this last week," he said. "We've got to work hard these last five days."

After spending about 20 hours in Florida, Obama heads to Virginia this afternoon and then on to Columbia, Mo., for another late-night rally tonight.

Even as Obama leaves the Sunshine State, his campaign will be sending in reinforcements in the quest for the state's coveted 27 electoral votes. Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, are scheduled to stump in Florida on his behalf on Friday.

Obama, meanwhile, is expected to make one last stop in Iowa on Friday. Then, plans call for him to briefly attend some Halloween activities with his two daughters in Chicago, before an evening rally in Northwest Indiana and a late-night flight to Las Vegas.

Robert Gibbs, a top Obama adviser, said the campaign is trying to boost margins in areas that have underperformed for Democrats in the past. He expressed some confidence as he talked with reporters.

"We don't think this race is over," he said, then added, "I'd rather be us than them."

With Obama expected to spend most of Sunday in Ohio, Gibbs explained a second scheduled stop in Missouri this weekend by noting that state's economic troubles and potential for a Democratic pickup there.

"It's one more red state where we are playing offense," he said.

Speaking to reporters on Obama's plane this morning, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said he is seeing a much higher level of sophistication in Democratic Party organization in the state than he did four years ago.

"There is no comparison," he said. "This is methodical."

Nelson said he does not think Obama needs to return to the state again before the election in order to win Florida.

"He does not have to be physically be here," he said. "He's been here enough."