The final Presidential debate concludes; Senator Obama maintains lead; Both candidates offer economic proposals to deal with crisis
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print

    • The countdown to the grand finale for the presidential race has begun with the third and the final debate being concluded on October 15. The candidates raised issues related to character and policy choices of their opponents in an emphatic manner. McCain is reported to have targeted Obama on taxes and expenditure. McCain reacted sharply to Obama while he was trying to attack the Republican economic policies and attempted to draw a parallel between President Bush and Senator McCain1. In fact earlier in the second presidential debate held on October 07, economic crisis was debated as the core issue and both candidates put forth their respective plans to overcome the financial turmoil2.

    Meanwhile, Senator McCain offered his economic proposals which embodied attractive plans for the elderly voters especially those who draw money from various pension and retirement plans. McCain proposed to exempt the major chunk of their income from taxes and this as reports noted would cost $36 billion to the administration. McCain reportedly proposed to reduce taxes on long term capital gains3. In a related development, McCain claimed to steer his country out of the troubled situation by providing effective and able leadership4. The McCain campaign managed to collect a whopping $ 10.6 billion in New York ‘fund raiser’ as reports noted5. Meanwhile, Senator Barack Obama was not far behind and put forward his set of proposals to redress the prevailing economic challenges. He proposed to encourage employers to create new jobs by giving them $3,000 tax credit for every new job6.

    Senator Barack Obama continues to lead the presidential race by almost 6.5 points as noted by a poll conducted in Virginia7. Meanwhile amidst widening apprehensions whether race will be an issue in the November elections, the Voice of America conducted a survey to determine whether the US was ready for a black president or otherwise. The results nonetheless indicated that race will be an issue during the final stage of voting8. It is relevant to note that Senator Obama lost the primaries in Ohio and West Virginia by considerable margin as these states have a majority of white voters9.

    Top