President-elect Barack Obama will use a speech on the economy Thursday to try to build support for a massive stimulus bill aimed at lifting the United States out of a deep recession. 
 
Obama is warning Congress that unless it acts quickly and boldly to pass his stimulus plan, with its estimated $775 billion price tag, the country could be mired for years in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
 
The president-elect delivers his remarks at 11 a.m. at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, with less than two weeks to go before his inauguration.
 
The speech comes as some lawmakers and financial experts are beginning to raise doubts about elements of the stimulus plan.
 
The Washington Post quoted lawmakers, tax experts and economists as saying some of the tax cuts in the Obama plan are likely to be too expensive and ineffective.
 
Obama’s choice to lead the administration’s charge on health care reform goes before a Senate confirmation hearing Thursday.
 
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is expected to receive a cordial welcome from his ex-colleagues and Democratic leaders on the panel predict a smooth confirmation.
 
President George W. Bush travels to Philadelphia Thursday for an event touting the success of his No Child Left Behind education reform program.
 
The House of Representatives and the Senate hold a joint session to formally count the electoral votes from the November election, in which Obama defeated Republican rival John McCain.
 
The action will formally declare Obama as winner of the U.S. presidential vote.
 
The morning television news shows reported on Obama’s economic speech and new violence in the Middle East, where rockets from Lebanon struck northern Israel.
 
The attacks raised concerns about a possible second front in Israel’s two-week war against Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.
 
U.S. stock futures dropped early Thursday on disappionting December sales by Wal-Mart, pointing to a lower open on Wall Street.
 
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Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Obama listens as Bush speaks during an Oval Office meeting Wednesday with all the living former presidents)

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - There was a sharp exchange among patrons during Barack Obama’s visit to a barbecue restaurant on Sunday, highlighting the strong emotions the U.S. presidential race is stirring in the final weeks of the campaign.

Obama stopped by Cape Fear BBQ in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to pick up some chicken, collards and baked beans and court voters in this traditionally Republican state.

Some patrons cheered his arrival while others looked on with curiosity and surprise. One woman yelled, “Socialist, Socialist, Socialist — get out of here.” Obama was across the room at the time and did not appear to hear Diane Fanning, 54, who was among several patrons who had just come by after services at the local Presbyterian church. She said she was annoyed that the Illinois senator had stopped in at the restaurant that she regularly visits.

Obama supporter Cecelia Hayslip, 61, responded to Fanning’s comments by saying, “At least he’s not a warmonger.”

Lenox Bramble, 76, isn’t an Obama supporter but he also was bothered by Fanning’s comment. “Be civil, be courteous,” he said.

Later, Bramble and his wife, Kit, seemed to find some common ground with Obama when he said he shared their concerns about the loss of textile jobs to other countries and underscored his pledge to try to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Act.

They later said that while they found Obama likeable, they were not going to vote for him. Lenox finds Obama too inexperienced while Kit said she had been a conservative Republican since Barry Goldwater’s 1964 candidacy and wasn’t about to change.

Obama had more success with first-time voter Mike Long, 33, who talked to the candidate about health care. Long said he had gone from being less than 50 percent likely to vote for Obama to being 98 percent certain he would back the Democrat.

Obama later walked over to Fanning’s table and extended his hand to her but she did not shake it. 

North Carolina is among some traditional Republican states that have turned competitive in recent weeks. George W. Bush won the state handily in both 2000 and 2004, racking up more than 12-point wins each time. But an average of recent polls on the Web site RealClearPoltics showed Obama with slight 1.3 percent lead in the state.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young - U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama makes a campaign stop at a restaurant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Oct. 19, 2008.

The vice presidential contenders Joe Biden and Sarah Palin offered their share of zingers and even a couple gaffes during their one and only debate on Thursday in St. Louis.

Biden tried to link the health care plan offered by Palin and presidential hopeful John McCain to Palin’s past support of a now-famous congressional earmark to fund a bridge to a small island that was labeled the “Bridge to Nowhere.”  

“So you’re going to have to place — replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company.  I call that the ‘Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere,’” Biden said.
 
Meanwhile, Palin corrected her rival about the offshore drilling for energy resources when Biden said “drill, drill drill.” 

“The chant is ‘drill, baby, drill.’ And that’s what we hear all across this country in our rallies because people are so hungry for those domestic sources of energy to be tapped into,” she said.

Biden, who is known for his verbal miscues, managed to only have one major gaffe, apparently erroneously referring to Hezbollah instead of Syria when he talked about the United States and France coming to the aid of Lebanon.

“When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said, and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there.  Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it,’” Biden said.

Meanwhile, Palin had a couple mistakes herself, calling the U.S. commander in Afghanistan Commander McClellan when his name is David McKiernan.

She also got her words mixed up when talking about the financial crisis, which has been criticized as a bailout for bankers on Wall Street and doing little to help Main Street Americans.

“It’s a toxic mess, really, on Main Street that’s affecting Wall Street,” Palin said. 

She also referred to her opponent as “O’Biden” at one point, combining her opponents’ names.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Palin winks during the vice presidential debate), Carlos Barria (Biden laughs at the debate)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republican John McCain  added a pledge on Thursday to his list of goals if he wins the White House: help people quit smoking. 

McCain, who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day before ceasing 29 years ago, told a summit organized by cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong that preventive measures were key to keeping people healthy. 

“So as president, I will work with business and insurance companies in support of programs to help people quit smoking,” he said. 

Armstrong pressed McCain on whether he would stop a trend seen during the Bush administration in which funding for the National Cancer Institute had decreased. 

“We will reverse that trend,” McCain said, though he declined to be specific about how much he would increase funding. 

McCain veered off of his prepared remarks to speak briefly about his own battle with melanoma. He joked later with Armstrong about whom the champion cyclist would prefer to exercise with: McCain or his Democratic rival Barack Obama. 

“I don’t have an answer for you on who I would work out with,” Armstrong told reporters. “Probably best just to do a little triathlon. You know, we could hike one day with Senator McCain and play basketball one day with Senator Obama and then the other day they have to go ride with me, and then we’ll figure it out.” 

Armstrong also hinted that he might be interested in running for office someday. 

“There might come a time when you feel like you’ve reached a wall and you need to step into public office and try to make change through that channel or those ends,” he said. “But not right now.” 

Armstrong’s foundation did not endorse McCain. The cyclist said he would also press Obama to talk about his plans and experience related to cancer issues.

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Photo credits: (top) Reuters/Mike Blake (Comic book biographies of the candidates displayed at Comic-Con in San Diego,  July 23, 2008) and (bottom) Reuters/Jim Young  (Armstrong testifies on Capitol Hill in May)

ST. LOUIS - The doctor was in on Tuesday, as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made the rounds at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in the battleground state of Missouri with a cardiac nurse.

Obama, hoping to highlight his health care proposal and show local voters a more personal side, visited patients, pushed a cart and conferred with nurses during a two-hour stint in the hospital’s cardiac unit.

His guide for the early-morning shift was nurse Kate Marzluf, 26, who good-naturedly answered his questions and tried to ignore a swarming media contingent while handing out medicine and checking on patients.

At one point, as the nurse filled him in on her tasks, Obama said it “makes me faint just to think about it. You’re not drawing any blood, are you?”

During later check-ups, two patients reported sharply higher blood pressure than normal. Obama told the first patient he sympathized.

“When reporters are around me, my blood pressure goes up too,” he said, smiling. At the next stop, he was even more direct.

“The press has the same effect on me. They get my blood boiling,” Obama said. He smiled again.

 Later, Obama praised Marzluf and the hospital staff.

“If there is one thing that is right about health care in this country, it’s the extraordinary men and women who are entering the medical profession,” he told reporters.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama on campaign plane June 3)

BRISTOL, Va. - Basking in his new status as the Democratic standard-bearer, Barack Obama announced on Thursday that his party will adopt the same restrictions on donations that his campaign has put in place.

Under the new policy, the party will no longer take contributions from registered lobbyists or special-interest political action committees. 

Obama talked of the change as he touted his plan to overhaul the health care system during a visit to Bristol, Virginia.

He said pharmaceutical companies, health-maintenance organizations and other interests had too much clout in Washington and were the reason for the failure of past efforts to change the health system.

“If we’re going to make real progress, this time must be different,” he said.

“As the Democratic nominee for president, I’m announcing that going forward, the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard. We won’t take another dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs,” Obama said.

“They will not fund my party. They will not run our our White House. They will not drown out the voices of the American people,” he said.

Obama’s visit to the state two days after capturing the Democratic nomination highlighted his hopes of putting the historically Republican-leaning state into play in the general election.

Bristol is a rural town in the southwestern part of the state.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama steps out of car)

CHARLES CITY, Indiana - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried on Thursday to win over members of one of his most skeptical audiences: senior citizens.

Those voters have tended to be a strong base for Obama’s rival Hillary Clinton, a former first lady and New York senator. At 60, Clinton is older than the 46-year-old Obama and is seen by many older voters as the more experienced candidate.

Visiting an assisted living center in Indiana, the Illinois senator shared stories about his grandfather’s service in World War II, his grandmother’s frugality and his mother’s battle with cancer.

He also expressed empathy for the daily struggles of older people worried about paying for prescription drugs and health care while trying to get by on a fixed income.

In a proposal that was popular with the group, Obama promised to try to eliminate the income tax on their Social Security benefits.

He also underlined his opposition to a temporary suspension of the federal gasoline tax — an idea proposed by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain  and also supported by Clinton.

Obama said the gas tax suspension “isn’t a real solution” because it would provide, at most, only a short-term fix to the energy problem. He also said it would divert money from the fund used to pay for highway repairs.

One questioner mentioned an idea that Clinton has proposed — suspending the gasoline tax and making up the difference for the highway trust fund with a tax on windfall profits of oil companies.

The questioner, an older woman, asked whether a short-term fix to the energy problem was such a bad thing, remarking jokingly that “a lot of us are nothing but short-timers.”

That drew laughter from the group, prompting Obama to say: “You look like you’re going to be around for a while.”

Obama seemed to impress the crowd after a nearly hour-long visit.

Lavera Schroeder, 82, said she found Obama to be a “normal person” who “talked on our terms” and did not use confusing words or jargon that the group would not understand.

“He said his mother tried to get by,” she said. “That’s how we grew up. We ate molasses and home-made bread.”

But Schroeder said she would not be able to vote for Obama in Tuesday’s primary election in Indiana because she had been in the hospital and not had a chance to register.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage

- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama campaigns at the CMW specialty metals factory in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 30)