Return to Transcripts main page

Ballot Bowl 2008

Candidates Continue Seeking Votes

Aired October 26, 2008 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to the second hour of CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Candy Crowley here in Denver, Colorado, the Mile High City.
Barack Obama campaigned here earlier. He is off to Fort Collins, where he is also campaigning. Of course, Colorado, a key state.

BALLOT BOWL is your chance, you will hear these candidates sometimes live and sometimes taped but always at length, so that you can hear them pretty much as we hear them as we followed them along the campaign trail, for those of you, and it is a dwindling few, who have not made up your minds. This is a chance to get a little more information.

I want to bring in my colleague, Ed Henry, who is in Zanesville, Ohio, covering John McCain.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Candy, it's interesting. I'm here to lay out the game plan for the next hour for our viewers in appropriate term because we're not far here in Zanesville from Ohio State. They had a very tough loss in college football last night to Penn State. A lot of long faces around here in the hotel before we came over, but you can tell behind me, people getting pumped up.

John McCain, first of all in our game plan, will be here in the next 10 or 15 minutes, in Zanesville, for this Republican rally. We'll hear from him. We'll also hear live from Barack Obama. He's at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. We're going to hear them in their own words.

And, Candy, only nine days to go. Can you stand the drama?

CROWLEY: You know, it's kind of unbelievable when you think about it. Just nine days. It has been a very long, very interesting, and completely surprising 19 months. Certainly, the most surprising campaign that I've covered, and I've covered a couple of them.

As I mentioned earlier, Ed, Barack Obama was here in Denver. You know, he came on the scene as the candidate of change. The candidate who would go to Washington, play the game differently, bring about real change and real reform. It is a topic that he is returning to in these final days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, DENVER)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D-IL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The change we need isn't going to come easy. It's not going to come quick. We have dug a deep hole for ourselves. I would be dishonest with you if I said that we're going to snap our fingers and everything that we're talking about is going to happen overnight. It's not.

We're all going to have to tighten our belts. We're all going to need to sacrifice. We're all going to need to pull our weight.

I can put more money into the schools, but I can't be the parent who turns off the TV set to make your child do their home work. You're going to have to do that. That's your responsibility.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

OBAMA: I can invest in new renewable energy, but each and every one of us, think, if here made sure they turn off the lights when they left the room, checked the pressure on their tires, did to the other little things that add up to enormous energy savings, that's the kind of leadership from ordinary Americans that we're going to need -- because now more than ever, we're all in this together.

We don't have the luxury of relying on the same political games. The same tactics that are used every election to divide us, to make us afraid of one another. With the challenge and crisis we face right now, we can't afford to divide this country by class or region, by who we are and what policies we support. There are no real or fake parts of this country.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

OBAMA: We're not -- we're not separated by the pro-American and anti--American parts of this nation. We all love this country. No matter where we live. No matter where we come from.

There are patriots that have supported this war in Iraq, there are patriots who opposed it; there are patriots who believed in Democratic policies, there are patriots who believed in Republican policies. The men and women from Colorado and all across America who serve on our battlefields, they may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, young, old, rich, poor, gay and straight.

But they fought together, they have bled together. Some have died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a red America or a blue America, they have served the United States of America and we can't lose sight of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Not long ago, Barack Obama right here in Denver, he has moved on to Fort Collins as he tries to bring Colorado home for the Democrats. It has been a fairly reliable Republican state in recent presidential elections.

One thing to add here, we are now told by Obama advisors that he may have a little change-up in his speeches going forward in this final week. This is the time that candidates make what's called their closing arguments. And you guessed it, Barack Obama's closing arguments, will it be about change, about what's needed to change in this country, how he will fix the economy, and other things that he believes are wrong.

As you know, he's been going around the country pretty much giving the same speech. The Obama campaign now is talking about a bit of a change-up as we go into this final week plus one.

I want to bring in my colleague, Ed Henry.

Ed, I don't know if you've heard him talk about closing arguments. But it seems to me that every day there always is a little something new in those McCain speeches.

HENRY: Absolutely. That's been one challenge for John McCain, Candy, as you know. It's a kind of -- even among his supporters, made clear what his message is. He's gone back and forth on several different themes.

He does seem now, in the final days, to be sticking to something he talked about a little earlier today in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Number one, he's saying, "I'm a fighter." And number two, he's basically saying Barack Obama is not ready to be commander-in-chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CEDAR FALLS, IOWA)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R-AZ) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At a time when Senator Joe the Biden guarantees -- guarantees there will be a crisis -- a crisis, an international crisis if Senator Obama is elected president. The Democrats' answer to the challenges we face is to lower our defenses and raise our taxes.

That is not the vision I have for America. I want to strengthen our defenses and lower our taxes. I promise you to do that.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

MCCAIN: The next president won't have time to get used to the office. We face many challenges here at home, and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world. We can't spend the next four years, as we have spent much of the last eight, hoping for our luck to change at home and abroad. We have to act. We need a new direction and we have to fight for it.

And I've been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old. And I have the scars to prove it.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

(CROWD CHANTING)

MCCAIN: If I'm elected president, and Sarah will be elected right along with me, I'll fight to shake up Washington and take America in a new direction from my first day in office until my last. I'm not afraid of the fight. I'm ready for it.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

MCCAIN: I'm not going to spend $750 billion of your money just bailing out the Wall Street bankers and brokers that got us into this mess. I'm going to make sure we take care of the working people who are devastated by the excesses and greed of Wall Street and Washington.

Now, my friends, it was the housing crisis that started this terrible crisis that we're in. My friends, we've got to go out and buy the mortgages of the people who can't stay in their homes. Give them a new mortgage so they can and realize the American Dream. This administration is not doing that.

It's time to do it, help people realize the American Dream and stay in their homes by giving them a new mortgage they can afford.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: There you hear it, John McCain earlier today in Iowa, yet another twist on Joe the Plumber. He referred to Senator Joe the Biden.

And as I toss it to my colleague, "Candy the television reporter," I'm not exactly sure, Candy, how many more variations of Joe the Plumber we're going to come up with in the final nine days. But I have a feeling there's at least a few more.

CROWLEY: I was going to say, for both of these candidates, I'm sure we'll hear many more iterations of Joe the something.

And speaking of Joes, Joe Biden -- this gives me nicely to Joe Biden, who, again, was in Virginia yesterday, a key state. Boy, they would really, in the Obama camp, like to bring this southern state into the Democratic poll, that looking very much because of changing demographics in Virginia and some of the polling -- it looks really good for the Obama/Biden campaign at this point in Virginia.

As we've mentioned before, both of these candidates on the Democratic ticket do seem to be in sync with their message. Joe Biden, sometimes, almost word for word saying the same sorts of things that his boss is saying, and both of them, even in those final days, are still pushing very hard against John McCain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SUFFOLK, VIRGINIA)

SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, folks, I want to tell you something. Barack Obama has a backbone of steel. He can take -- he can take -- he can take 10 more days of these personal attacks, but our country cannot take four more years of the economic policy of George W. Bush in the hands of John McCain.

Folks, it's time to remind all Americans, we literally, not figuratively, we are one nation, under God, we are indivisible, we are all Americans.

Ladies and gentlemen, every great president, every great president we've had, Democrat as well as Republican, they've always taken dire circumstances and we've had more difficult circumstances in our history. They've always taken these dire circumstances and they turned them into opportunities.

And they've done it how? By reminding Americans what we've overcome in the past, reminding them who we are, and appealing to their better angels. That's how we've done it in the past.

And ladies and gentlemen, I know this guy, Barack Obama. You campaign with the guy. You debate him twelve times. You meet his family and get to be friends with his mother, I mean, excuse, his mother-in-law and his family and his brother-in-laws and his sister, and you learn something about the man. The reason why I am so sure that Barack Obama will be a great president -- he will appeal to America's better angels and unite this country.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

BIDEN: Folks, let me conclude by saying to you all that at the end of the day, at the end of the day, it's about understanding the strength of this country. My dad, my brother Jimmy is with me here today. I've had the great pleasure of either one of my sons, or my sister, or my wife, or my brother traveling with me. And, you know, I bet every one of you could think of something you've heard your mother or father say to you 100 or 1,000 times when you're growing up.

But one of the things my dad would always say is that -- if you had a bad day, if you, you know, got knocked down on the football field, and that was not an unusual occurrence for me. If you asked a girl out on a date and she said no, and your feelings were hurt or if you thought you were going to get an "A" and you got a "C" and you were down, you were feeling sorry for yourself, my dad would always come in and he'd say, "Champ, the measure of success is not whether or not you get knocked down, it's about how quickly you get up -- how quickly you get up."

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

BIDEN: Well, ladies and gentlemen, I've never seen so many Americans knocked down, with so little help, just a helping hand from the government to get them back up. So, folks, it's time for us to get back up. It's time for us together -- together -- to get back up and demand the change we need for the country we love.

Ladies and gentlemen, I can say to you with absolute certainty after spending time on the trail in every part of this country, I guarantee you -- America is ready to get back up. You are ready to get up. I am ready to get up. Barack Obama is ready to get up. It's our time. It's America's time. So, let's get up. And take back the country we love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Joe Biden when he gives revved up, a very effective advocate for Barack Obama, and that is the beauty of having a number two, because when Joe Biden was talking there in Suffolk, Virginia, Barack Obama was out here in the interior west in Nevada and in New Mexico. They sort of two-teaming this election.

Vice presidents can be very helpful to the candidates. They can also cause a couple of problems. Joe Biden certainly has done both as I bring in my colleague, Ed Henry, who is in Ohio at this point.

Certainly, Sarah Palin has been both as well.

HENRY: Well, that's right, Candy. And I heard Joe Biden there talking about getting knocked down and getting back up. Obviously, someone who's been knocked around in this campaign is Sarah Palin, sometimes knocked around over the last couple days by people within the McCain camp itself. Obviously, some division between the McCain advisors and the Palin advisors. We've seen that first out in the public over the last couple of days.

But Sarah Palin still keeps fighting. We've seen her at many rallies. She draws larger crowds than John McCain even does out here on the stump and she was in Sioux City, Iowa, yesterday, and basically talking a lot about another closing argument about the possibility of Barack Obama winning and having a larger Democratic Congress. She's taking the aim at Democrats like Barney Frank in Congress and what they would do at the agenda if they had the entire government at their control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SIOUX CITY, IOWA)

GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And on November 4th, we're not going to support Barack the wealth-spender's plan because we understand -- Iowa, you understand that his plan to redistribute wealth will ultimately punish hard work and it discourages productivity, and it will stifle the entrepreneurial spirit that has made this country the greatest country on earth.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

PALIN: Our opponent's plan is just more big government and that's the problem. That's not the solution. Instead of taking more from you and spreading your wealth, John McCain and I will spread opportunity so that people like you and Joe the Plumber can create new wealth and new opportunity.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

PALIN: See, under a big government agenda, what you thought was yours -- your income, your property, your inventory, your investments, really would belong to somebody else, to everybody else, and it would be shared with everybody else. That philosophy of government taking more which is a misuse of the power to tax, it leads to government moving into the role of taking care of you and governments and politicians and kind of moving in as the other half of your family to make decisions for you.

And -- now -- they do this in other countries where the people are not free. Government is part of the family, taking care of us, making decisions for us. I don't know what to think of having in my family, Uncle Barney Frank or others to make decisions for me. (CROWD BOOING)

PALIN: I and John McCain tend to want to trust the American people with their income, their businesses, their families.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: When we come back, we're going to hear more from Sarah Palin. She weighed in today on the controversy about the $150,000 wardrobe courtesy of the Republican Party.

Also, we're going to bring in our Bill Schneider, a senior political analyst, to take a look at the numbers. Is Sarah Palin helping or hurting John McCain in these key battleground states?

And then, we're going to hear from John McCain, himself, in the next few minutes. He's going to be speaking here in Zanesville, Ohio. It doesn't get more exciting than this. Only nine more days to go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENRY: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Ed Henry in Zanesville, Ohio. Just in the next couple of moments, we're going to hear from John McCain, himself, at the podium behind me.

But in the meantime, we're going to talk about what some critics are calling the wardrobe malfunction, the story that popped this week about the Republican Party spending $150,000 on Sarah Palin's wardrobe, clothes as well for her children, her husband, in addition to some style, hair, and makeup, et cetera. That was a bit of a controversy that a lot of McCain aides would like to see go away.

But today in Tampa, Florida, Sarah Palin decided to weigh in, keeping the story alive for another day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, TAMPA, FLORIDA, WFLA)

PALIN: This whole thing with the wardrobe I -- you know, I tried to just ignore it because it's so ridiculous, but I'm glad now that Elisabeth brought it up because it gives me an opportunity without the filter of the media to get to tell you the whole clothes thing.

Those clothes -- they are not my property, just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased. I'm not taking them with me. I'm back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

PALIN: You'd think -- not that I would even have to address the issue because as Elisabeth is suggesting, the double standard here is -- gosh, we don't want to waste our time. I'm glad though that she brought up accessories also. Let me tell you a little bit about a couple of accessories. I didn't think that we'd be talking about it but my earrings, these -- I see a Native Americans for Palin poster. These are...

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

PALIN: These are beaded earrings from Todd's mom who is a Yupik Eskimo up in Alaska, Native American, Native Alaskan.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

PALIN: And my wedding ring -- it's in Todd's pocket because it hurts sometimes when I shake hands and it gets squished -- a $35 wedding ring from Hawaii that I bought myself. And --because I always thought with my ring, it's not what it's made of, it's what it represents and 20 years later, happy to wear it.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

PALIN: And then finally, the other accessory, you bet, I'm a gold -- I'm a blue-star mom. I am wearing this in honor of my son who is fighting over in Iraq right now defending all of you.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Sarah Palin there in Florida today. You can tell, she's sensitive about this talk about $150,000 of wardrobe. She -- that could contradict with her image as a hockey mom. You see her also referring to Elisabeth Hasselbeck from "The View." She was on stage today in Florida.

Now, someone a lot different from Elisabeth Hasselbeck but just as exciting on television is Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst. He's also in Ohio today.

Bill, and you've been -- I couldn't resist. I'm sorry. But, you're here in Ohio. And you have the inside view on poll numbers and the inside scoop as well. How is Sarah Palin playing? That's kind of one of the big mysteries about these final nine days. Will Sarah Palin be a help or a hindrance for John McCain? What are the numbers saying?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, she started out as a help. Take a look at the Pew Poll that was taken in September, it showed that most Americans were favorable in their opinion of Sarah Palin, 54 percent, 32 percent unfavorable.

But since then, she's faced controversy, whether she's qualified, the latest controversy about the cost of her wardrobe, firing her -- the involvement in the firing of the head of public safety in Alaska and the latest Pew Research Center poll asking about Sarah Palin shows that her favorability has dropped 10 points, just 44 percent favorable now. That number is less than the number who do not like her, who have an unfavorable and negative view of Sarah Palin which is now 17 points higher, up to 49 percent.

So, it looks like she is not helping John McCain. Although when the race started and he first named her to the ticket, she clearly energized conservatives.

HENRY: Well, Bill, let me follow up on that because, as you say, maybe with undecided voters there's a question because of the criticism that's been out there, the controversies as you mentioned.

But when I'm out here on the trail at these rallies with Sarah Palin, she draws many, many more people than John McCain. I was in Colorado last week, she had at least 10,000 people in a small area, in Grand Junction. John McCain here in a populous area in Ohio, maybe 1,000 people behind me right now.

Is there a possibility where she's turning off some in the middle but could really help John McCain turn out that conservative base?

SCHNEIDER: She is a very polarizing who has fervent admirers and supporters, but also some pretty ardent critics. I read the "Anchorage Daily News" today which had an editorial in which they endorsed not John McCain and Sarah Palin but Barack Obama and Joe Biden. It was an interesting editorial.

It says, "She draws huge crowds, she sows excitement in her wake," which you just described, "and she has shown herself to be a force to be reckoned with." But the newspaper said, "Few would argue that she's truly ready to assume command." I think that's an assessment a lot of Americans have come to share.

HENRY: Well, Bill, you mentioned a force to be reckoned with. It can also describe Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst. Thank you for all that inside information.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

HENRY: In the next few moments, our next play on the BALLOT BOWL, we're going to see Barack Obama. He's just taking the stage in Fort Collins, Colorado, Colorado State University. We're going to hear from Barack Obama, himself, in his own words. And behind me, we're going to hear from John McCain as well in the next few moments. He's going to be here in Zanesville, Ohio.

Right here on CNN, you're going to hear both candidates in their own words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, and welcome back to CNN's Sunday edition of "BALLOT BOWL," your chance to hear these candidates, sometimes taped, sometimes live, but in any case, unedited and a chance for you to see what we see out here on the campaign trail.

Barack Obama here in Denver not that long ago. He's made his way to Fort Collins. As promised, we want to give him to you live and unfiltered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You want to hear how we're going to attack the health care crisis and attack the energy crisis (CHEERS) and attack failing schools and attack an economy that's not working for middle class families. That's what the American people are looking for. (CHEERS). But we need to new politics and need honest leadership and that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America. (CHEERS).

Now, I think all of us understand that this is a moment of great uncertainty for America. The crisis we face is the worst since the Great Depression. The businesses, large and small, are finding it impossible to get loans which mean they can't buy new equipment, they can't hire new workers, they can't even make payroll for the workers they've got. We've lost more than 750,000 since the beginning of this year. The wages are lower than they've been in a decade at a time when the cost of everything from health care to college has never been higher. It's getting harder and harder to make a mortgage or fill up your gas tank or keep the electricity bill paid. At this rate the question isn't are you better off than you were four years ago, the question is are you better off than you were four weeks ago?

What we need is a debate about how to fix the economy and how to help the middle class. That's not what we're getting from the other side. A couple of weeks ago my opponent's campaign said if we keep on talking about the economy, we're going to lose. So that's why I'm talking about the economy a lot. (CHEERS).

No, they've said we don't want to turn the page on talking about the economy. We're going to be focusing on attacking Obama instead. And, you know what? That's one campaign promise that they have actually kept. I mean, they have been throwing everything at me but the kitchen sink hoping that something is going to stick. McCain even called me socialistic for suggesting that we should focus tax cuts not on wealthy corporations, not on millionaires and billionaires but for more ordinary Americans who are struggling. (CHEERS). And -- which I thought made sense.

The other day Senator McCain took it to a whole new level. He said that I was like George Bush. (BOOS). He said that. You can't make this stuff up. I was confused by this since I have been opposed to every one of Bush's economic policies. (CHEERS). And yet -- despite that, despite that well-documented record of opposition, Senator McCain said that I would somehow continue the Bush economic policies and that he, John McCain, would reverse them.

Now, this is what he said a few days ago. Then this morning he's on "Meet the Press" and Senator McCain admits that he and President Bush share a common philosophy. That's what he said, a common philosophy. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little of that straight talk he was talking about. (LAUGHTER). It's been missing for a while, but he was being straight because he was owning up to the fact that he and George Bush have a whole lot in common. We know that the Bush-McCain economy and economic philosophy -- we know what it looks like. It's a philosophy that says we should give more and more to folks at the top, to millionaires and billionaires (CHEERS), to the wealthiest among us and then somehow it's all going to trickle down on the rest of us. It's a philosophy that gives tax breaks to CEOs and the corporations that ship jobs overseas while hundreds of thousands of jobs are disappearing at home. It's a philosophy that justifies spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus and our economy is in crisis.

For eights we've seen this philosophy at work. It's put our economy on the wrong track. And we can't afford another four years that look like the last eight. It is time for change for Washington and that's why I'm running for president of the United States. (CHEERS).

Now, we know that the economic crisis hit Wall Street but it's also been hurting Main Street for many years. You know, during the primaries, Senator McCain was saying we'd made great progress economically under George Bush. Last month, he was still arguing that the fundamentals of our economy are strong. Well, let me tell you, there's nothing more fundamental where I come from than having a job and when you're losing 750,000 jobs just this year, the economy is not strong and the fundaments are off track and we need to bring a fundamental change to Washington. (CHEERS).

We know that we have to get spending under control in Washington so that we're not mortgaging our children's future under a mountain of debt. The young people here, your future under a mountain of debt. For all of Senator McCain's tough talk on spending he voting for four out of five Bush budgets that let things get totally out of control, half a trillion dollar deficit before this financial rescue package. That's not change supporting those kinds of ideas. We know it's time for new ideas and new leadership in the White House but Senator McCain voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time over the last 8 years, 92 percent. Somebody just corrected me. (LAUGHTER).

Just the other day George Bush returned the favor and voted early for John McCain. Well, Colorado, George Bush isn't the only one who gets to vote early. You can vote early too and finally put an end to the Bush-McCain philosophy. (CHEERS).

You can vote for a new direction. We know what's coming for the McCain campaign over the next nine days. The same kind of politics we've seen the last eight years. It's a politics that's more about tearing your opponent down than lifting this country up. Let me tell you, I can take nine more days of John McCain's attacks. What the American people cannot take is four more years of the same failed policy and the same failed politics. (CHEERS).

We're not going to let George Bush pass the torch to John McCain. I'm running for president of the United States of America because I solemnly believe that this country is better than the politics that you've had over the last eight years. (CHEERS). You deserve better. We need a government that reflects the core decency and generosity of the American people.

Now, I know these are difficult times, Fort Collins. I know many of you are worried out there, but I believe we can steer ourselves out of this crisis because I believe in this country. I believe in the American people. We are the United States of America (CHEERS), a nation -- a nation that's faced down war and oppression, great challenges and great threats. And at each and every moment, we have always risen to meet these challenges, not as Democrats and Republicans, but as Americans with resolve and confidence with the fundamental belief here in America our destiny is not written for us, it is written by us. We choose our own destiny. (CHEERS). That's who we are. That's the country we intend to be. (CHEERS).

But it's going to take a new direction. It's going to take new leadership. We have to turn the page on eight years of economic policies that put Wall Street before Main Street and ended up hurting both. One of the things we have to understand that John McCain doesn't seem to understand is that when everybody's doing well, when the bus driver and the teacher and the firefighter and the sheet metal worker and the teacher and the -- I saw their T-shirt so I thought I'd give a shout out. (CHEERS). The -- when everybody's doing well, that's good not just for each of us, it's good for business. It's good for the wealthy. They've got customers that can actually afford to buy their products and their services. We need policies that grow our economy from the bottom up, so that every American, everywhere, has the chance to get ahead, not just the person who owns the factory but the men and women on the factory floor. Not just the CEO but the secretary and the janitor. (CHEERS). Because if we've learned anything from this economic crisis, it's that we're all connected. We're all in this together. We're going to rise or fall as one nation as one people.

Now the financial rescue plan that passed Congress, that was a necessary first step to easing this credit crisis which is going to be spilling over into the rest of the economy. We had to make sure that we didn't see more bank failures and the complete collapse of the financial market. But if we're going to rebuild this economy from the bottom up, really and truly rebuild this economy so the fundamentals are sound, we need an immediate rescue package for the middle class. (CHEERS). That's what we need. And that's what I will do as president of the United States. I propose a new American jobs tax credit. Instead of giving jobs to companies that ship jobs overseas, we're going to give a tax credit for each new employee that companies hire right here in the united states of America (CHEERS), right here in Fort Collins, right here in the united states of America. (CHEERS).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Barack Obama on the economy, the closing issue for both of these candidates.

Now, John McCain is in Zanesville, Ohio, at this hour, getting ready to talk there. We will hear from him and more from these candidates when "BALLOT BOWL" continues in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ON THE GO)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Hi, and welcome back to the final 15 minutes of CNN's "BALLOT BOWL," your chance to see the candidates live or taped but always unedited. In these final moments, we're going to give you both tops of the tickets live.

Right now, Barack Obama is in Fort Collins, Colorado, where John McCain is in Zanesville, Ohio, as McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, introduces him.

We want to go back to Fort Collins and a little more from Barack Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: ... of economic growth many the 21st century. You know something about this here in Colorado. As president, I want to invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy (CHEERS) to create -- to create 5 million new green jobs over the next decade. Governor Ritter is doing it. The people of Colorado are doing it. Think about it. Jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced, building solar panels and wind turbines. Taking some of the farms and growing switch grass for cellulosic ethanol, creating new biofuels and creating fuel efficient cars not in Japan, not in South Korea, but right here in the united states of America. (CHEERS). Jobs that will help us end our dependence on owl from Middle East dictators, jobs that may just save our planet in the bargain. and I'll also put $2 million more Americans to work, rebuilding our crumbling roads and schools and bridges, laying broadband lines in rural communities so that companies can locate there and everybody has access to the Internet, setting up a new electricity grid so renewable energy from wind and solar can get to the population centers that need it. We need to build an American infrastructure for the 21st century. (CHEERS).

And just remember if people ask you, how are we going to pay for this? You tell them if we can spend $10 billion a month rebuilding Iraq, we can spend some money rebuilding the United States of America (CHEERS), putting people back to work, solving our energy crisis. (CHEERS). Yes, we can. Si se puede.

CROWD: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!

OBAMA: All right. So, we need to deal with energy. That's part of the long-term solution. Here's another thing. As president, I will finally fix the problems in our health care system that we've been talking about for decades now. (CHEERS).

Now, this issue is personal for me. My mother died of ovarian cancer at the age of 53. I'll never forget how she spent the final nights of her life laying in a hospital bed, fighting her insurance company because they said it was a pre-existing condition and didn't want to pay for her treatment. Let me tell you, as president, I will make sure these insurance companies can't do that again, because (CHEERS) -- John McCain has a different idea. Like George Bush he wants to tax your health care benefits for the first time in history. (BOOS). Let insurance companies keep discriminating against people who need health care the most. The same failed insurance company first, your-family- last health care plan that we need to change.

My health care plan is pretty straight forward. If you've already got health care, keep it. If you don't have change or plan, change your doctors, only thing we're going to do is work with your doctor to lower your premiums. (CHEERS). If you don't have health care you'll be able to buy into a plan just like the one that members of Congress, including John McCain, give themselves. And we'll invest in preventive care and new technology so that we can finally lower the cost of health care for families and businesses and the entire economy. That's the kind of change we need. (CHEERS).

All right, so we've got energy. We've got energy and health care. Number three, we're going to give every child in America the skills and knowledge they need to compete with any workers anywhere in the world. (CHEERS). I will not allow countries out-teach us today to they can out-compete us tomorrow. It is time to provide every American with a world-class education. (CHEERS). That means investing in early childhood education. (CHEERS). It means recruiting an army of new teachers, paying them higher salaries (CHEERS) and giving them more support in exchange for more accountability. It means making a deal with efficient every young person in American when it comes to college.

You know, my opponent was asked -- my opponent's chief economic adviser was asked about college affordability and said how come John McCain doesn't have a plan? He said, we don't think it makes sense to give money away to every interest group. Interest group? (BOOS). I don't think that the young people of America are a special interest. I think they're our future. (CHEERS). I think we've got to do better than that. (CHEERS).

And that's why to all the young people who are here and to all the young people across America, I'm going to make a deal with you. If you are willing to commit yourself to service, in the community, to your country, whether it's joining the military, joining the Peace Corps, working in a homeless shelter, working in a veterans home, teaching in an underserved school, working in an underserved hospital, whatever it is -- whatever way you decide to serve, if you are willing to serve, then we are going to make sure that you have the money to go to college, no ifs, ands, ors or buts (CHEERS). You invest in America, America will invest in you. Together we're going to move this country forward.

Now, here's the thing, Fort Collins. Here's the thing, Colorado. The change we need is not going to come easy. and it's not going to come overnight. This administration has dug a deep hole for us. We've got a lot of debt and we've got a lot of problems. And we're all going to need to tighten our belts and we're all going to need to sacrifice. We're all going to need to pull our own weight.

You know, I can put more money in education but I can't be the parent who turns off the TV set and puts away the video games and makes sure that the child is doing their homework. (CHEERS). That's the parent's job. We can put more money into energy efficiency, but everybody here -- look at this unbelievable crowd -- all of you have a responsibility to insulate your homes and turn off the lights when you leave the room and to check your -- the gauge -- check the pressure on your tires. It seems like small stuff, but it adds up. See, the point is, is that one of the things that we're going to have to do post election, regardless of who wins, is we've got to regain an ethic of responsibility (CHEERS), a sense of seriousness about the future, and our obligations to each other because now more than ever, we are all in this together. (CHEERS). We don't have the luxury of relying on the same political nonsense, the same flash and burn tactics used every election to divide us, to make us afraid of one another. We can't afford it.

With the challenges and crisis we face right now, we can't be divided, not be class, not by race, not by region, not by who we are or what policies we support. Contrary to what my opponents say, there are no real or fake parts of this country. (CHEERS). We're not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this country. (CHEERS). We all love this country, no matter where we live, no matter where we're from. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it. Patriots who are Democrats and patriots who are Republicans. The men and women from Colorado and across this country who served on our battlefields, some may be Democrats, some are Republicans, some are Independents, but they fought together and bled together, some died together.

Look at this veteran right here.

God bless you.

(CHEERS)

OBAMA: They have not served a red America or a blue America. They've served the United States of America and that's the country we need to be. (CHEERS).

CROWLEY: Barack Obama with some now familiar lines that he's been talking about really for the past four years if you count the last election when, of course, he was, the campaigns there, the convention speaker, the keynote.

As we go back to my colleague in Zanesville, Ohio, Ed Henry.

Ed, I understand you have some problems out there with some lighting but it's been a great two hours and I'm going to toss it back to you to wrap up.

ED HENRY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: OK. Candy, it's been a pleasure being on with you.

We've been trying to bring you John McCain, but obviously the McCain camp hopes this is not a metaphor -- but the lights are not working here. I'm speaking low here because I don't want to interrupt Senator Lindsey Graham, one of John McCain's closest friends. He has been on the stage after Cindy McCain. And you can hear the crowd responding to the speech but unfortunately the lights on stage are not quite working. There's been sort of a surge going on here. It's very warm in here, a lot of people inside this arena. And so in fact, Lindsey Graham made a joke about how he wanted to have a fund-raiser for a new air conditioner here. There seems to be something going on.

But what we're going to do is let the lighting issues get worked out. We're going to turn it over to my college, Don Lemon, with CNN "Newsroom" after this break. And then Don will come back to me so we can dip in live to John McCain. You're going to hear John McCain at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon at the CNN "NEWSROOM." No rest for the candidates, crisscrossing the country, honing in on the battle ground states. They're speaking live and we will surely take you there.

Few clues this hour in a family tragedy. A 7-year-old boy still missing, two people dead, an Oscar-winning actress takes her case to the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It means so much to all of us. It's not just the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)