Illinois Sen. Barack Obama spent Monday touting his middle class tax fairness plan in New Hampshire, the only state without a sales tax or income tax.
At a roundtable in Nashua, Obama explained how he would provide a tax credit to middle class families, a mortgage credit to families at certain income levels, and eliminate income taxes for senior citizens making less than $50,000 a year.
Later in the day, Obama formally filed his candidate papers at the state house in Concord. He also released a new television ad in the Granite State.
“The thirty-second ad appropriately called “Conventional” highlights a message that Obama preaches on the campaign trail, that he is the candidate who will defy conventional Washington thinking,” blogs Sunlen Miller of ABC.
Over the weekend, Obama traveled to Los Angeles to speak at an East L.A. high school about the need to combat Latino drop-out rates.
“The Latino community is the fastest growing in the country and plays a huge role in our economy,” Obama said. “So unless we make sure Latino students stay in school and get the skills they need to meet the challenges of the global economy, our workforce is simply not going to be as competitive in the world. It’s that simple.”
Obama also took questions from the audience on a variety of topics, including immigration, the economy, and the war in Iraq. Cathleen Decker of the Los Angeles Times reports that Obama waded into an ongoing immigration fight in the state. She also notes that Obama trails his main competitor in the state.
“Obama came to California behind in the polls and in statewide fundraising, both key measures of support leading up to the Feb. 5 primary,” Decker writes. “For months, he has been laboring against the strong lead of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose courtship of the state began during her husband’s 1992 presidential campaign.”
Also over the weekend, the Washington Post editorial board weighed in on the fight between Obama and Clinton over the New York senator’s vote to name Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
“Now, trailing in the polls and sensing a political opportunity, Mr. Obama is trying to portray Ms. Clinton as a reckless saber-rattler,” the board writes. “That is irresponsible and — given the ease with which the charge can be rebutted — probably naive, as well.”
Earlier in the week, Obama made several pitches to voters in Nevada and Arizona. On Thursday, he held events in Reno and Las Vegas, Nev. And on Friday, he attended a rally in Tempe, Ariz.
“Obama on Thursday held a rally in Reno, then flew south, hosting about 1,500 supporters at Cheyenne High School in North Las Vegas. It was his eighth visit to Nevada,” writes Molly Ball of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The Las Vegas speech focused on “the lessons of Iraq, and how we not only bring an end to the war but more importantly prevent making mistakes in the future.”
Wednesday night, Obama stopped by the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Leno asked Obama about reports that he and Vice President Dick Cheney are distant cousins.
Last week, the Obama campaign also announced that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick would endorse the senator. The two are scheduled to appear at a rally in Boston on Tuesday. The event will be sandwiched between various campaign stops in New Hampshire over the next two days.
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