Today on the presidential campaign trail

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - IN THE HEADLINES

With economy top issue, McCain and Obama offer competing visions on taxes ... AFSMCE and MoveOn together criticize McCain's stance on Iraq war in new ad ... Gore backs Obama as the candidate who can move the country past the Bush years

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McCain, Obama offer different visions on taxes

WASHINGTON (AP) — Make more than $250,000 a year? Watch out. Barack Obama wants to raise your income taxes. Social Security taxes, too.

Run a corporation? Lucky you. John McCain wants to cut your business taxes.

Those positions illustrate pieces of two vastly different approaches to the economy, an issue at the forefront of voters' minds given that the country is teetering on the brink of — if not already in — a recession as gas prices soar and layoffs rise amid a credit crisis and a housing slump.

Obama, the Democrat, seemingly has a traditional liberal outlook of taxing the rich more while having the government help people of more modest means through tax breaks. McCain, the Republican, advocates a classic conservative vision of cutting taxes — many geared toward businesses — to promote competition within a free-market system.

Neither plan is cheap.

The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan joint project of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, gives a preliminary estimate that over the next decade, McCain's tax proposals would reduce federal revenues $3.7 trillion while Obama's cuts would amount to $2.7 trillion.

The center said the cuts would slice roughly 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively, of the federal revenues scheduled for collection under current law. But the center's estimate — seemingly the first nonpartisan comprehensive comparison of the plans — is incomplete because it doesn't account for health care tax proposals or, at least in McCain's case, consider how proposals to slash spending would offset some costs.

A crusader against wasteful spending, McCain asserts that he will veto bills that are too costly and cut the federal budget enough to make up for the costs of tax cuts and other proposals, although he has yet to show he can save enough to do it. At the same time, the Republican says that Congress must continue to fund an Iraq war that already has cost more than $500 billion.

Obama, in turn, has proposed billions of dollars in spending to create jobs and pad government programs aimed at helping the less fortunate. He has said that the money will come from ending the Iraq war, slicing tax breaks for corporations, and raising taxes on high-income earners, efforts he says are intended to shift more of the tax burden to wealthy Americans.

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AFSMCE, MoveOn ad targets McCain on Iraq war

WASHINGTON (AP) — A major labor union and the liberal organization MoveOn.org are joining forces to air a provocative new ad portraying John McCain's Iraq policy as a prolonged presence that would involve a new generation of Americans.

Paid for by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and by MoveOn.org, the commercial represents an expansion by Democratic-leaning groups of a campaign against McCain. It also targets one of McCain's major assets — his public credibility on national security issues.

The ad will begin airing nationally Wednesday on CNN and MSNBC, and in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin markets. It will run for a week at a cost of $543,000. In the ad, an actress with an infant child speaks as if she were addressing McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee.

"Hi John McCain," she says. "This is Alex. And he's my first. So far his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog. That, and making my heart pound every time I look at him. And so, John McCain, when you say you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex? Because if you were, you can't have him."

McCain has stressed that his goal is to reduce American casualties, shift security missions to Iraqis and, ultimately, have a non-combat U.S. troop presence in Iraq similar to that in South Korea. He has speculated that such a presence could last 100 years or more.

Last week, McCain aired his own commercial where he asserts, "I hate war." The ad is biographical, recalling his family's military service and his more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Polls show that while a large majority of the public opposes the war, they split almost evenly between McCain and his likely Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, over who would better handle Iraq.

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Gore endorses Obama

DETROIT (AP) — Al Gore made his debut in the 2008 presidential campaign Monday night, encouraging voters to back Barack Obama because "take it from me, elections matter."

The former vice president's speech at the Joe Louis Arena was part endorsement and part blistering attack on the man who denied him the White House eight years ago.

"After eight years of incompetence, neglect and failure, we need change," Gore said. "After eight years when our Constitution has been dishonored and disrespected, we need changes."

In 2000, Gore won the popular vote but lost the disputed election to George W. Bush, who captured Florida and its electoral votes after a divided Supreme Court ended the re-count of ballots. Since then, Gore has made combatting global warming his signature issue, and has been recognized worldwide for his effort — from an Academy Award to the Nobel Prize.

Obama stoked lasting Democratic anger over the 2000 outcome when he recognized Gore as "the winner of the popular vote for president."

"You remember that," Obama said as the crowd of 20,000 erupted in raucous applause.

Gore is one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, but he stayed out of the primary campaign.

It's the second time Obama has rolled out a major endorsement in Michigan, where he did not campaign during the primary because its election violated the party rules. Obama is counting on a win in Michigan in November, but brought Gore and 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards to help validate him among Democrats in the state after skipping their primary.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Barack Obama meets with students in Taylor, Mich.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain gives a speech on energy and raises campaign cash in Texas.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"I'm grateful Al Gore came to Detroit tonight. But I'm ever more grateful for everything he's done in the last 40 years for this country." — Barack Obama, after receiving Gore's endorsement.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

John McCain won Michigan's Republican presidential primary in 2000, beating George W. Bush by 8 points — 51 percent to 43 percent. Turnout for the GOP contest topped 1.2 million.

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Compiled by Ann Sanner and Jerry Estill.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080617/ap_on_el_pr/2008_race_rundown [link]