McCain Fights GOP Pessimism; Dow Tumbles
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And, to our viewers, you are in THE SITUATION ROOM. Happening now: John McCain tires to convince middle-class voters they would be put through the ringer under a President Obama. Can the Republican score needed points while his rival is off in Hawaii today? And also, Sarah Palin gets personal in her first policy speech. She managed to draw criticism, though, on an issue close to her heart. And the Democrats roll out a big gun to go after a prime target in the U.S. Senate. Is Bill Clinton seeking payback for his party? The best political team on television is standing by. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You are in THE SITUATION ROOM. Only 11 days before America votes, John McCain still trying to do his best to convince voters that he is not tone-deaf about the economy. Just a short while ago, he before the cameras at a factory in Colorado springs to talk about jobs lost and the dangers of raising taxes. Let's go to Dana Bash. She is covering the McCain campaign for us in Colorado. McCain is doing his best, as I said, to try to jump-start his campaign in the last 11 days. And he is pulling out a lot of surprises.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is right. And today's surprise was the fact that he had former NFL quarterback of the Denver Broncos John Elway. And I don't have to tell you this, Wolf. He is famous for his last-minute comebacks and he actually told a crowd here with John McCain that he thinks McCain can pull one of those off. But just like other battleground states, Wolf, for this one to come back would be a big-time turnaround, because right now our latest poll of polls shows McCain down six points, and this is a state, Colorado, that has not elected a Democrat in 16 years.</s>BASH (voice-over): Coming to Colorado may be more symbolic than politically practical, John McCain's attempt to defy the perception that red states like this are out of his reach.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We're going to win Colorado.</s>BASH: But his campaign is clearly less optimistic. They reportedly slashed their Colorado TV ad spending this week in half. Across the board, Republicans are increasingly pessimistic.</s>ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: He's got to change the national environment, change the national conversation. And to do that in two weeks, when you haven't been able to do it in two years, is going to be very tough.</s>BASH: Still, McCain aides insist to CNN their internal data shows traction in key swing states, thanks to Joe the plumber and attacks on Obama's tax plan.</s>MCCAIN: You know, Senator Obama may say he's trying to soak the rich, but it's the middle class who are going to get through the wringer.</s>BASH: And McCain is now trying to lure voters by warning about Democrats in charge.</s>MCCAIN: The answer to a slowing economy is not higher taxes, but that's exactly what's going to happen when the Democrats have total control of Washington. We can't let that happen.</s>BASH: McCain is also trying to inject national security back into an election dominated by the economy. After months of unsuccessfully trying to convince voters that Obama's inexperience makes him risky, he's trying again, using Joe Biden's words with this foreboding ad. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD) SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We're going to having an international crisis to test the mettle of this guy. I can guarantee you it's going to happen.</s>NARRATOR: It doesn't have to happen. Vote McCain.</s>ERIN WENTLY, UNDECIDED VOTER: Believe it or not, I am still undecided.</s>BASH: But independent Colorado voter Erin Wently, who came to see McCain, tells us that argument doesn't sway her at all.</s>WENTLY: They're both risky, if we're honest. They're both risky.</s>BASH: Now McCain did not seal the deal with that undecided voter. She told us, after listening to McCain, she still is not sure which way she is going to go. But, you know, Wolf, McCain aides tell us just the fact that because undecided voters, like Erin, are coming to his rallies, are willing to check him out, that gives them some hope that, despite the long odds, winning is not completely out of the question for them right now -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Dana is working the story in Denver, Colorado, a key battleground state. Barack Obama is relying on his top surrogates to fight the good fight while he is visiting his sick grandmother in Hawaii. Running mate Joe Biden revisited a subject today that got him into trouble before. He defended his remark that Obama would likely be tested by crisis early in his presidency, a remark that John McCain and Sarah Palin have pounced on.</s>SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: No, I don't regret the comment. Every new president is tested, Democrat or Republican. I don't know where John has been in the last 20 years, number one. Number two, I have watched Barack Obama. I have tested his mettle. I have seen him. He is ready to handle any crisis. And based upon the major crises we have had, he has been right and John has been wrong.</s>BLITZER: Let's get some more on Senator Biden and Michelle Obama taking center stage out there on the campaign trail. Let's go to CNN's Jessica Yellin -- Jessica.</s>JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Obama sent his top surrogates on the road today, running mate Joe Biden in West Virginia and Florida, and his wife, Michelle, in Ohio. (voice-over): With Obama gone, the fight for battleground states goes on.</s>MICHELLE OBAMA, WIFE OF SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: O-H...</s>CROWD:  I-O. M. OBAMA: O-H...</s>CROWD:  I-O. YELLIN: After acknowledging her husband's absence...</s>M. OBAMA: He flew to Hawaii to see his grandmother, who he called Toot. She's doing OK.</s>YELLIN: ... Michelle Obama gave the campaign's closing argument a personal touch.</s>M. OBAMA: What he gets fundamentally is that the American people are a decent people. American folks are like my parents, like his grandparents, like his mother. The vast majority of people aren't asking for much. But all they are looking for is a Washington that understands that, instead of just talking a good game about family values, that we actually have policies that value families.</s>BASH: The latest CNN poll of polls shows Obama seven points up in Ohio with 7 percent undecided. The campaign's other top surrogate was in West Virginia.</s>BIDEN: I know Halloween is coming. But John McCain as a candidate of change, whoa, come on. John McCain and change, he needs a costume for that.</s>YELLIN: And he mocked the campaign McCain/Palin mantra.</s>BIDEN: They get on these things and they start, I'm a maverick. No, you're a maverick. We're mavericks. They're all mavericks.</s>YELLIN: In West Virginia, a state once thought out of Obama's reach, CNN's poll of polls shows Obama two points behind McCain with 8 percent undecided. The Obama campaign is aggressively warning against overconfidence.</s>M. OBAMA: This is a long, hard race. It will be close. Don't be fooled.</s>YELLIN: And urging supporters to get to the polls now.</s>BIDEN: And I want once you get out, and you can vote early. So, vote early. Get there and vote.</s>YELLIN (on camera): And, Wolf, that early voting message is something you hear from all Obama's surrogates and from the candidate himself on the stump. It is clear from my conversations with his aides that they are concerned all these positive poll numbers will make Obama's supporters complacent. So, they are urging supporters to get to the polls now and help bring other voters to the polls on Election Day -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Thanks, Jessica -- Jessica Yellin working the story. Michelle Obama, by the way, will be taking an even more prominent role on the political stage tomorrow. She will be delivering the Democratic response to President Bush's Saturday radio address. We are told she will talk about the importance of participating in the election. The U.S. job market is turning even more dismal, Chrysler announcing it plans to slash some 5,000 jobs by year's end, this as both the Dow and home prices nosedived today. Let's go right now to our senior business correspondent, Ali Velshi, working the story. Ali, what sparked, what, a 312-point drop on the Dow Jones industrials?</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf, compared to some of the numbers you and I have talked about in the evenings over the last month, doesn't even seem like much. We started the day thinking that this was going to be mother of all nosedives on the Dow. In fact, this morning -- you know, we often talk about futures. Futures were down as much as they are allowed to go down. Futures trading, you actually could not trade futures down earlier this morning, before the markets opened. And there were some people talking about a 1,000- or 2000-point drop on the Dow. None of that materialized. It is still continuing fears about a worldwide recession. And when it is the worldwide recession, how do you get people out of it? Well, you only can get out of a recession, particularly in the market, when people are confident about the economy and they start to invest, and they start to borrow and they start to spend. Well, that is not going to happen, particularly, as you say, as we lose jobs. We have seen this month some evidence of some very, very big layoffs and we are concerned that when we get those numbers on November 7 about job losses, that they are going to be very serious. We have seen 750,000 jobs lost so far this year. But, in the end, Wolf, taking a 312-point drop on the Dow has a lot of people, believe it or not, breathing a sigh of relief. There were a lot of people who thought today could be a lot worse.</s>BROWN: Could have been a lot worse. What about home sales, new numbers out on that front?</s>VELSHI: Yes, we are seeing the median price of an existing home -- median is the price at which half the homes are sold above that number and half below -- the median price is now under $200,000. It is about $191,000 for a House. The good news here is that it is starting to seem affordable to some people who heard been wanting to buy houses, but had felt priced out of the market by the increases of the last few years. So, we have seen an uptick in the home buying compared to the same month last year. So, that is a little bit of good news. One month is not a trend. We will have to see if this continues for a couple months. But, maybe, as homes prices fall and interest mortgage rates remain relatively low, for those people who can get them, maybe people are getting back into the housing market -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Key words, those people who can get them.</s>VELSHI: Yes.</s>BLITZER: Yes. Ali, thanks very much. The global financial fallout is not helping President Bush's low approval ratings. The commander in chief has been out of public sight out there on the campaign trail. Behind closed doors, though, it is a different matter. We will explain. Barack Obama says, she has been one of the most important women in his life, so important he has now briefly left the campaign trail for an emotional homecoming. We will go out to Hawaii. And Sarah Palin's very personal message inspired by her youngest child.</s>GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When we hold Trig, and when we care for him, we don't feel scared anymore. We truly feel blessed.