Beware the tax-hiking monster, Palin tells Pa.

Sarah Palin painted Barack Obama as a pretty scary creature for Halloween: a tax-and-spend liberal whose policies would devastate the nation.

“If you believe that America is the land of possibility and you don’t want your dreams dashed by the Obama tax plan increases, then, Pennsylvania, we’re asking for your vote,” she told supporters in a chilly airport hangar in Latrobe, Pa.

Traveling by bus through rural byways lined with pumpkin patches and grazing cattle Friday, Palin also held a rally in York and toured a tool-and-die plant in Somerset and an apple orchard in New Paris.

The day’s schedule reflects Pennsylvania’s importance in Tuesday’s election. Its 21 electoral votes are viewed as vital to the GOP.

The vice presidential nominee invoked “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher, who after meeting Obama in Toledo, Ohio, questioned whether the Democrat’s statement that he would like to “spread the wealth” amounted to socialism.

“They do that in other countries where the people are not free and where work ethic is not rewarded and where an entrepreneurial spirit is stifled,” Palin said.

With the official Halloween politicking over, Palin took her daughter Piper trick-or-treating in Dauphin. Piper dressed as a snow princess. On the campaign plane and at a rally, Palin’s infant son, Trig, was costumed as an elephant.

-- Seema Mehta

--

DOLLARS AND SENSE

‘John McCain is a firm supporter of states’ rights.’

Tucker Bounds,

McCain spokesman, on whether McCain’s anti-tax pitch conflicts with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s position on coping with California’s budget shortfall