Blue Spot

McCain targets message to Clinton backers - CNN.com

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain is working hard to win over supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton who may not be ready to back Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

McCain reached out to Clinton's base this week by resurrecting Obama's controversial comments during the primaries that blue-collar voters "bitter" about the nation's economy were "clinging" to guns and religion.

"I don't agree with Sen. Obama that they cling to their religion and the Constitution because they are bitter," McCain said Wednesday in Philadelphia.

On the economy, McCain also told voters he understands the pain caused by rising gas prices, but he didn't mention his proposal for a gas tax "holiday." His advisers had said it was a winning argument that he would be pushing all week.

The presumptive GOP nominee spoke off the cuff Wednesday instead of a planned speech on climate change. The town hall-type meeting was in the style of campaigning with which McCain is the most comfortable and an attempt, his advisers admit, to recover from last week's stumbles when he read from a teleprompter.

Labels: General Election 2008, Hillary, McCain