Text size:

On the trail

October 5, 2008

John McCain spent yesterday at a resort hotel in Sedona, Ariz., preparing for his second debate with Barack Obama. The Arizona senator plans to stay the weekend at his family retreat outside Sedona. Obama and McCain are scheduled to meet Tuesday at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., for the second of three debates. The televised debate moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw will feature issues raised by audience members and submitted by Internet participants in a town-hall format.

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden canceled weekend campaign events because of an illness in his wife's family, the Obama campaign confirmed yesterday.

Sarah Palin accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists" for his association with former 1960s radical Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the group the Weather Underground. The group took credit for bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol four decades ago. In remarks to GOP donors in Englewood, Colo., yesterday, the Republican vice-presidential candidate said Obama seems to see the United States as being so imperfect that, in her words, "he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." Obama served on a charity board with Ayers in Chicago and has denounced his past activities. In response, the Obama campaign released a statement describing Palin's comments as "offensive, and not surprising, given the McCain campaign's statement this morning that they would be launching Swiftboat-like attacks in hopes of deflecting attention from the nation's economic ills." A New York Times story Palin had cited in launching the attack made it clear Obama was not close to Bill Ayers, "much less 'pals,'" the statement said, adding Obama had strongly condemned the acts Ayers committed 40 years ago, when Obama was 8.

The financial crisis is not a reason to forgo fixing the nation's health care system, Obama, campaigning in Newport News, Va., yesterday, said. He called McCain's health care proposal out of touch with American values and criticized the plan also in ads and in mailers aimed at voters in swing states. Obama accuses McCain of pulling a bait-and-switch on voters by not talking about how his plan gives a tax credit with one hand while raising taxes with another. The Democratic nominee also claims McCain favors massive deregulation of the insurance industry that, Obama said, could hurt families.