Barack Obama pushing in red states

by John McCormick

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- In the days before and after Tuesday's second presidential debate, Barack Obama will spend his time in states where Democratic presidential candidates rarely go, especially this close to an election.

This past weekend and through the middle of this week, Obama is focusing on Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana. It has been nearly a month, for example, since he visited Ohio, the battleground of battlegrounds.

The red state itinerary is the latest example of just how aggressively the Illinois senator has worked to widen the playing field, boosted by an economic crisis that he now claims his opponent has handled in an "erratic" fashion.

Emerging briefly Sunday from debate preparations, Obama responded to a recent attack made by Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who said that he "pals around with terrorists." Obama suggested Palin and nominee John McCain are "gambling" that they can "distract you with smears," rather than talk about substance.

"They'd rather tear our campaign down than lift this country up," he said. "That's what you do when you're out of touch, out of ideas and running out of time."

Obama focused on a comment a top McCain adviser made in a weekend Washington Post story where he said Republicans are "looking forward to turning a page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama's aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for Americans."

The Democratic nominee mocked that statement during his appearance at a packed high school football stadium.

"Turn the page on the economy? We are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and John McCain wants us to 'turn the page' on talking about the economy?" Obama asked.

Palin, Alaska's governor, had on Saturday first mentioned Obama's ties to former1960s radical William Ayers. The University of Illinois at Chicago professor is an Obama acquaintance who was a founder of a group that claimed responsibility for bombings at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago.

See the rest of the story about Barack Obama's efforts in traditionally Republican states in Monday's Chicago Tribune.