FOXNews.com
Published: 09-05-08
CEDARBURG Wis. — John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin — fresh from a rousing sendoff Thursday night at the Republican National Convention — hit the campaign trail running Friday trying to win over voters with their new “Change Is Coming” mantra.
McCain and Palin were loudly cheered and applauded when their “Straight Talk Express” bus rolled into Cedarburg Wis. a suburb of about 11000 people near Milwaukee.
Campaign officials said it chose the small Wisconsin community because it wanted to kick off the final sprint to November in “small town America” like the one in Alaska where Palin once was mayor.
“John McCain doesn’t run with the Washington herd” Palin said.
“It’s over. It’s over. It’s over for the special interests” McCain promised. “We’re going to start working for the people of this country.”
Twelve hours after receiving the cheers of his party McCain told a crowd estimated at more than 1000 — or about one-tenth of its population — “Isn’t this the most marvelous running mate in the history of this nation?”
The Republican ticket plans to campaign together in Wisconsin and Michigan on Friday Colorado and New Mexico on Saturday and then go their separate ways. Palin is expected to return to Alaska just briefly and then go back to the campaign trail perhaps on Monday.
Democratic nominee Barack Obama planned campaign and fundraising events in Pennsylvania and New Jersey — including a fundraiser with rock star Jon Bon Jov
Meanwhile strategists for the campaigns argued that McCain and Obama would be engaged in debate over new directions for public policy though Obama adviser David Axelrod continued his campaign to try to link McCain to the policies of the Bush administration.
“Last night Sen. McCain used the word ‘change’ but the policies that he describes were very familiar” Axelrod said on “The Early Show” on CBS. “This isn’t change this is more of the same.”
Meanwhile Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden told voters at a union hall in Philadelphia that Obama’s economic plan would cut taxes for all but the wealthiest Americans. Biden also criticized McCain for proposing a tax on health benefits provided by employers.
McCain hammered away at the “change” theme again promising the Wisconsin audience that “change is coming change is coming.”
McCain lso took note of Friday’s gloomy economic news from Washington — the nation’s unemployment rate soared to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August as employers slashed 84000 jobs — telling the crowd there are “rough times all over America.”
The night before McCain closed out the Republican National Convention by urging voters to “fight with me” as his supporters touted his candidacy.
“You all know I’ve been called a maverick someone who marches to the beat of his own drum” McCain said.
“Sometimes it’s meant as a compliment and sometimes it’s not. What it really means is I understand who I work for. I don’t work for a party. I don’t work for a special interest. I don’t work for myself. I work for you.”
In a speech that stressed his military service as well as his reputation as a maverick the Arizona senator called for an end to the “constant partisan rancor” he says has crippled the federal government.
In sounding the “Change Is Coming” message in their acceptance speeches McCain and Palin squarely positioned the Republican ticket to meet head-on the Obama campaign’s theme of “change.”
Palin the first-term Alaska governor told the convention crowd Wednesday night that McCain has used his career to “promote change” instead of using change to promote his career.
McCain picked up the mantle in his speech Thursday night promising voters that the GOP ticket would become a force for reform and that “change is coming.”
“Let me just offer an advance warning to the old big spending do nothing me first country second crowd: Change is coming” McCain said.
“I’m not in the habit of breaking promises to my country and neither is Governor Palin. And when we tell you we’re going to change Washington and stop leaving our country’s problems for some unluckier generation to fix you can count on it. And we’ve got a record of doing just that and the strength experience judgment and backbone to keep our word to you.”
McCain outlined policy differences between him and Obama in an attempt to cast his rival as a big-government liberal but generally steered clear of attacks on his resume.
Palin by contrast taunted Obama in her speech Wednesday as untested accusing him of wanting to turn the presidency into a personal journey of discovery.
McCain began his address on a conciliatory note congratulating Obama the first black presidential nominee of a major party for his historic accomplishment.
McCain made reference to Obama’s experience level only once when he referred to his own record working with “both parties to fix problems.”
“That’s how I will govern as president” McCain said. “I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. My friends I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not.”
He also made an unmistakable reference to his own campaign’s narrative that Obama is a celebrity saying “I’m not running for president because I think I’m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need.”
Before McCain took the stage following the video tribute Cindy McCain warmed up the crowd by describing her husband as a steady hand at the helm of a country in dangerous times.
“John McCain is a steadfast man who will not break with our heritage no matter how demanding or dangerous the challenges at home or abroad” she said. “And let’s not be confused. These are perilous times not just for America but for freedom itself.
“It’s going to take someone of unusual strength and character — someone exactly like my husband — to lead us through the reefs and currents that lie ahead. I know John. You can trust his hand at the wheel.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
