Nearly 12,000 welcome candidate

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Registered: 08-05-2004
Nearly 12,000 welcome candidate
Mon, 10-18-2004 - 2:36am
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WAKEFIELD -- As the sun set on Pike County, about 12,000 people stood in a cornfield waiting for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry's bus to pull up.

And when he arrived at the West family farm, he found silos fully illuminated and proclaiming the area "Kerry Country." As he made his entrance, the crowd erupted, quieting as he began spelling out his plan for the nation.

"I believe in an America where the American economy doesn't just have Americans working for it, but the economy's working for Americans," he said.

After starting his day in Xenia and heading southeast, Kerry spoke in Pike County for about an hour, highlighting his plans for economic, energy and health care policy.

President George W. Bush hasn't lived up to his promises by not funding the initiatives he put in motion, Kerry said.

"All of this is a choice that a president gets to make. It's not predetermined," he said.

Stop outsourcing

First on Kerry's plate if elected, he said, would be to roll back tax breaks to businesses that outsource jobs to foreign countries.

"It'll take me about a nanosecond for me to send that bill back to Congress," he said.

New jobs being created to replace those being lost to outsourcing and layoffs, Kerry said, pay an average of $9,000 less each year, have no benefits and are often part time.

He also hit on plans to increase taxes for those who make more than $200,000 a year, which he said is about 2 percent of the population. By doing so, the government will have the money to give a tax break to the other 98 percent of Americans and businesses, making them more profitable and creating jobs.

"The only people who are going to pay more are people like me and George Bush who are lucky enough to make over $200,000 a year," he said.

But Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman Kevin Madden said this plan would hurt Ohio's economy. Bush's six-point economic plan involves opening foreign markets to Ohio businesses through fair and free trade plans.

"John Kerry's economic plan can best be summed up as more taxes, more regulation and less economic growth in this country," Madden said. "What you have to remember is, especially in Ohio, there are thousands of small businesses across Ohio who pay taxes at the individual rate."

Health and science

Kerry, having been introduced by former Ohio Sen. John Glenn, pointed to the astronaut as a symbol of our country's accomplishments.

He called America "the country of discovery," noting recent innovations such as stem cell research may have the capacity to cure ailments such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease.

Kerry said his health care plan would "respect lives, but save them."

Under his health care plan, average Americans would be able to buy into the same plan Congress and the president can buy into, Kerry told the crowd.

But Madden said Kerry and running mate Sen. John Edwards have been obstacles to medical liability reform, driving prices up and putting doctors out of business.

"When it comes to health care, the biggest problem with John Kerry's health care plan is it grows government bureaucracy, and it does nothing to reduce health care costs," Madden said.

Energy invention

Besides health care costs, gasoline and diesel prices are squeezing Americans' pocketbooks, Kerry said, especially farmers.

But with an energy plan that emphasizes renewable energy and new technology, Kerry said his administration would be able to decrease America's dependence on foreign oil while simultaneously creating jobs.

Madden said the president's energy proposal decreases dependence on foreign oil by addressing renewable energy and allowing drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, as well as updating the national power grid.

Kerry, however, said the situation was simple.

"God only gave us 3 percent of the world's oil, folks. That's all we've got," he said, noting about 65 percent of the oil supply lies under the Middle East.

"We can't drill our way out of this predicament. We've got to invent our way out of it."

Main points of Kerry's speech

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry's rally in Wakefield Saturday evening was the largest political gathering in Pike County's history, said county commissioner Jim Brushart.

During his one-hour speech, Kerry hit on several of the main points that have become common themes of his campaign. Among them:

# President George W. Bush's foreign policy has hurt American interests abroad, increasing prices of oil through the war in Iraq.

# The War on Terror is being mismanaged, with 10 times the number of troops in Iraq than in Afghanistan going after Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.

# America is losing jobs that are being replaced by ones with lower pay and no benefits. American workers, if given a fair shot at competing with foreign countries, can be successful. The average American family's income has dropped under Bush.

# Too many people are without health care, and Bush's policies on stem cell research are preventing research that could lead to cures of illnesses such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease

(Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at dprazer@nncogannett.com)

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Originally published Sunday, October 17, 2004