Obama Remarks Change Campaign Conversation; Force debate on problematic issues

[DeepModem Mom]

WSJ: Obama Remarks Change The Campaign Conversation
McCain May Benefit As Democrats Debate Problematic Issues
By NICK TIMIRAOS and AMY CHOZICK
April 15, 2008


(AP)
Sen. Barack Obama speaks during a presidential candidates forum on manufacturing in Pittsburgh Monday.

WASHINGTON -- The dust-up over Sen. Barack Obama's remarks about rural America is forcing both Democratic candidates to talk about guns, abortion and family values -- issues that don't win them many votes among the social conservatives they are trying hard to court in the Rust Belt, South and West.

Republicans saw themselves as the beneficiary as the furor continued to grow. Republican candidate Sen. John McCain said Monday that his campaign would use the remarks to paint the Illinois senator as a liberal elitist, much the way the Republican Party portrayed former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry as out of touch in the past two elections.

Sen. Obama said Monday that he had made a mistake when he told a private San Francisco fund-raiser April 6 that after years of broken promises, small-town Pennsylvania voters had grown bitter, and "they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them...as a way to explain their frustrations."...

***

Sens. Obama and Clinton differ little on gun control and abortion, and seldom speak about the issues on the stump unless asked. Each stresses the need to reduce the number of abortions, and both are quick to emphasize their view that the Second Amendment is an individual right, a view that isn't widely held by gun-control supporters. The Supreme Court will rule later this year on the constitutionality of the Washington, D.C., ban on handgun use.

Some Democrats believe Mr. Gore's support for gun control cost him states -- such as West Virginia -- that would have delivered him the 2000 election, and Sen. Kerry largely shied away from similar support in 2004. It isn't clear how successfully Sen. McCain could exploit the gun issue, in part because he has been vilified by the National Rifle Association for his role in pushing campaign-finance-reform legislation and for supporting tighter rules on gun shows....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120818092617312647.html

[kevinmc]

1. The Real Hot Button Issues Voters care about.....

and the WSJ gets them wrong are:

Economy

Iraq

Health Care

The try running on God, Guns and Abortion and they will lose.