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ON THE TRAIL

The Associated Press; RICK BRAND

September 21, 2008

Barack Obama responded to criticism of his abortion votes, airing a new ad in New Mexico and Ohio that defends his abortion rights record and says Republican rival John McCain backs a party platform that would deny abortions to victims of rape and incest. The ad answers an independent ad campaign, financed by an anti-abortion philanthropist, that singles out Obama's efforts in the Illinois Senate to defeat the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Obama and other opponents say the state already had a law to protect aborted fetuses born alive and considered able to survive. "Now votes taken out of context, accusing Obama of letting infants die? It's a despicable lie," Obama's ad states. The independent ad is being aired by BornAliveTruth.org, specifically targeting two key presidential campaign battleground markets, Albuquerque, N.M., and Cleveland.

- The Associated Press

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden said at a labor-union picnic yesterday that McCain is helping President George W. Bush wage war against organized labor. Hundreds of southwestern Virginia coal mining families cheered as Biden accused Bush of putting anti-labor, corporate interests in charge of the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board. Biden's visit was the third since June by him or Obama to the rural, blue-collar southwestern tip of Virginia, a battleground state that hasn't voted for a Democrat for president in 44 years. Meanwhile, Obama campaigned in Florida, delivering an address on women's issues, while McCain attended a Navy football game at a class reunion weekend at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. - The Associated Press

New York's Independence Party will endorse McCain for president today at the party's convention in Albany, said the state party's leader, Frank MacKay, claiming McCain is the "true independent in the race." The party, which has 360,000 registered voters statewide and has row "C" on the ballot, will officially name McCain in a party meeting at 11 this morning, where McCain is expected to personally call in. "For the first time in our lifetime we can elect a true reformer," MacKay said. MacKay, who is also head of the Reform Party USA, said he would push for McCain's endorsement with that organization too but would not predict whom the party would endorse. The Reform Party USA convention will be held Oct. 11 on Long Island. - RICK BRAND