McCain and Obama Campaign on Economic Agenda

July 7, 2008— -- On the campaign trail Monday, both White House hopefuls addressed the number one issue on voters' minds: the economy.

In Denver, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., compared his proposed plan to "get America moving again," to that of his opponent in the presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. The centerpiece of McCain's economic plan is cutting taxes to stimulate the economy. The Republican proposes to lower corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 25 percent, and to retain the Bush tax cuts he twice voted against.

"When you raise taxes in a bad economy, you eliminate jobs. I'm not going to let that happen," McCain said.

Under Obama's plan, middle- and lower-income wage earners will get a break. The cuts he proposes would increase taxes for higher wage earners.

"Obama would pretty much change the way taxes are levied against the middle class ... and McCain is very traditionally a Republican of Bush-era type Republican here," said Anne Mathias, an economist with the Stanford Group.

On Monday, the presumptive Democratic nominee, delivering remarks in St. Louis, also knocked his opponent on the state of the economy.

"John McCain wants to provide $300 billion in more tax breaks to corporations and wealthy CEOs. I want to provide a tax break to working families," said Obama.

The senator had intended to present his economic plan to voters in Charlotte, N.C., but earlier this morning, his presidential campaign plane was forced to make an unscheduled stop in St. Louis, due to a maintenance problem. The emergency stop was made because of "controllability issues" with the "pitch" of the MD-80, according to the pilot's first officer.

Balancing Act

In addition to knocking McCain on taxes, Obama questioned his opponent's pledge to balance the budget by 2013, calling it ambitious.

"Not only is it overly ambitious, every independent observer who's looked at John McCain's plan says that his plan would add $200 to $300 billion a year in deficit spending. He hasn't specified how he would bring it down. His own campaign has acknowledged that they don't have specifics."

While Obama criticizes McCain's ambitions, he is careful not to make the same promise, saying, "I do not make a promise that we can reduce it by 2013, because I think it is important for us to make some critical investments right now in America's families."

It's in the Details

Obama ranks a narrow six points higher than McCain, according to a June ABC News/ Washington Post poll. But when it comes to the economy, Obama polls between 15 to 20 points above McCain.

Both candidates proffered remedies to ease the pain of a tough economy on both small businesses and large corporations.