Obama, McCain trade charges on economy

With recession in the air and gasoline over $4 a gallon, presumptive presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama focused on the economy today, each accusing the other of not understanding how it works.

Obama launched his “Change That Works for You” tour in Raleigh, N.C, where he blamed much of the nation’s economic troubles on the Bush administration and policies that he said are “little more than the worn dogma that says we should give more to those at the top and hope that their good fortune trickles down to the many who are hardworking.”

Stronger government investment in health care, education, energy and the infrastructure could have lessened some of the economic impact on families, he said, according to a prepared text of his remarks.

“We did not arrive at the doorstep of our current economic situation by some accident of history,” Obama said. “This was not an inevitable part of the business cycle that was beyond our power to avoid.”

But “this nation has faced such fundamental change before, and each time we’ve kept our economy strong and competitive” by expanding the middle class and investing in innovation and education, he said.

“For all of George Bush’s professed faith in free markets, the markets have hardly been free – not when the gates of Washington are thrown open to high-priced lobbyists who rig the rules of the road and riddle our tax code with special interest favors and corporate loopholes,” Obama said.

He blamed “special-interest driven policies and lax regulation” for “a housing crisis that could leave up to 2 million homeowners facing foreclosure [that] has shaken confidence in the entire economy.”

The McCain campaign charged that Obama’s economic solutions would “further weaken our economy.”

“While hardworking families are hurting and employers are vulnerable, Barack Obama has promised higher income taxes, Social Security taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, and tax hikes on job creating businesses,” campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said.

McCain was off the public campaign trail today, holding a fundraiser in Virginia – a potential battleground state – and another in Washington, D.C.

Obama, after campaigning in North Carolina, was in St. Louis this evening for a fundraiser as he targets battleground states Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida over the next few days – states that could determine the outcome of the fall election.

New national polls over the weekend showed evidence of a fluid race. The Rasmussen Reports Presidential Tracking Poll gave Obama a 48% to 40% lead over McCain, a bounce from dead-even at 46% before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton abandoned her campaign Saturday.

The Rasmussen poll also affirmed that the economy is the top political issue five months ahead of election day, with half of the poll respondents saying that to buy groceries they have had to curtail spending in other areas.

Meanwhile, an independent campaign took aim at McCain over lobbyists who worked on his campaign, unveiling an ad targeting McCain and an Air Force decision to award a $100-million contract to a consortium that includes the European company Airbus.

The ad, aired by Campaign Money Watch, claims McCain “intervened” on behalf of the Airbus group, because lobbyists supporting his candidacy worked on its behalf. Campaign Money Watch is a 527, so named after the revenue code section that governs actions of such campaign groups.

“This is a joke,” said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers, who added that McCain is “being attacked for fighting corruption.”

In the tradition of such ads, the spot did not expressly call for McCain’s defeat at the polls. Rather, the spot urged that voters contact McCain about lobbyists who have worked on his campaign.

The group also filed a complaint against McCain with the Federal Election Commission.

Rogers called the complaint “baseless.”

“All campaign actions were carefully reviewed by legal counsel,” Rogers said, “and were fully in accord with FEC rules and election law. These are fact-specific issues, and Campaign Money Watch, a pro-Democratic, anti-McCain group, does not know any of the relevant facts.”

 scott.martelle@latimes.com

 dan.morain@latimes.com