WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON -- Lofty is out. Lists are in.
On economic issues, Sen. Barack Obama has deflated his soaring rhetoric as he moves closer to the Democratic nomination. Instead, he's focusing on specifics. Recent speeches are packed with detailed lists of assistance for middle-class families, senior citizens, students and job seekers.
"We're going to provide an income tax cut to ordinary families, like the ones that work in this plant, that's worth up to a thousand dollars per family per year," Obama said during an appearance at a Missouri clothing manufacturer last week.
"If you are a senior citizen, and you are bringing in $50,000 a year in income or less, then we don't want you to even pay income tax on your Social Security, because you are on fixed income and you need that money to keep up with rising costs," he said.
Obama was in Missouri the same day that voters in West Virginia gave Sen. Hillary Clinton a huge victory, sustaining her candidacy.
Nearly two in three West Virginia Democrats said the economy was their top concern, according to exit polling, while 17 percent named Iraq as the country's most immediate problem.
The economy was also the leading issue in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan - important swing states in the fall election. Obama lost the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries to Clinton and took his name off the Michigan ballot when the state was penalized for changing the date of its primary election.
Some voters have said they prefer Clinton over Obama because of the New York senator's specific economic solutions. Obama delivers a fine speech, some say, but there's not enough substance behind it.
The Obama campaign is out to prove that the Illinois senator has just as many concrete ideas as Clinton. Obama is conducting fewer events in big arenas, turning to question-and-answer settings in smaller settings.
In Cape Girardeau, Mo., the birthplace of conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh, Obama's remarks were "were long on substance and short on the sizzle for which he is often known," wrote Jo Mannies of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In addition to the middle-income and senior citizen tax breaks, Obama championed a proposal to reduce the cost of employer-provided health insurance by $2,500 a year and to establish employer-based retirement accounts to supplement Social Security funded with "some matching funds" from the federal government.
