With Denver in Rear-View Mirror, Obama Team Kicks Off Tour

BEAVER, Pa., Aug. 29, 2008— -- After accepting the Democratic Party's historic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, hit the campaign trail running as they prepared to embark on a battleground state expedition.

The senators and their wives headed to Pennsylvania, Friday, the first stop on the campaign's "On the Road to Change" bus tour.

The two candidates visited a biodiesel plant in Monaca, and made a pit stop in Alliquipa for some ice scream. On Friday night, they planned to focus on the economy during a rally in Beaver's Irvine Park.

Stops will also be made in the other battleground states of Michigan and Ohio, where Obama did not fare well in the primaries.

Former presidential contender Sen. Hillary Clinton bested Obama 55 percent to 45 percent in the Pennsylvania state primary. But now, with Biden on the ticket, a Delaware senator with working-class appeal, the campaign is hoping to reach out to blue-collar voters who are not yet sold on Obama's platform.

During his acceptance speech in Denver, Obama promised he and Biden would fight for new jobs.

At Friday night's rally, Obama was likely to repeat the sharp attacks he made against Sen. John McCain in front of millions of Americans the night before.

"I don't believe that Sen. McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans," Obama said. " I just think he doesn't know. ... How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies, but not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans?"

Obama also is expected to attack his Republican opponent on national security, an issue where McCain has held an advantage so far.

"John McCain likes to say that he'll follow [Osama] bin Laden to the gates of hell," Obama said. "But he won't even go to the cave where he lives."

During the Republican convention next week, Obama intends to continue to target his economic message at working-class voters.