Candidates Face Off Over Economic Plans

LAKE WORTH, Fla. — Senator Barack Obama convened an economic meeting here on Tuesday, inviting Democratic governors and supportive business leaders to amplify his plan to pass an economic stimulus package to help create jobs across America.LAKE WORTH, Fla.

“The financial crisis that states, businesses and families are facing didn’t just spring up full-blown overnight,” Mr. Obama said, opening a campaign event designed to look like a presidential summit. “This has been a long time coming, and the warning signs have been very clear.”

As Senator John McCain sought to make in roads in Pennsylvania again on Tuesday — a state where Democrats hold an edge over newlyregistered voters — Mr. Obama opened the final two weeks of the presidential campaign in Florida. Both candidates are vigorously working to win two states that have previously been won by the opposing party.

Despite polls showing Mr. Obama holding a double-digit lead in Pennsylvania, Mr. McCain’s campaign continues to hammer away in what it considers a crucial state, saying that its internal polls show the race much closer. Mr. McCain scheduled three campaign appearances on Tuesday, including a rally in the morning in Bensalem, in suburban Philadelphia.

On Monday, his wife, Cindy, spoke at two rallies in the Philadelphia area, visited a hospital and met with the mothers of men and women in the military. And over the weekend, Mr. McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, campaigned in Lancaster. For the second straight day, Mr. Obama sought to appeal to Florida voters, but he traded a campaign rally for a formal meeting at Palm Beach Community College. He was flanked by 12 flags and three large signs that declared: “Growing American Jobs.” Gone from the stage was a presidential-like seal, a symbol that critics derided as presumptuous, which decorated the lectern at a job summit he held over the summer.

Mr. McCain, who has criticized his Democratic rival on taxes, the economy, national security, health care, earmarks, the mortgage crisis and his association with a 1960s radical, shifted gears for a moment on Tuesday. In a late-October punch, he suggested that Mr. Obama had flip-flopped on his choice of World Series teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays.

“I heard that Senator Obama was showing some love to the Rays down in Tampa Bay yesterday,” Mr. McCain told a modest crowd at a manufacturing plant in Bensalem, Pa. “Now, I’m not dumb enough to get mixed up in a World Series between swing states, but I think I may have detected a little pattern with Senator Obama.”

As the crowd booed, Mr. McCain added: “It’s pretty simple really. When he’s campaigning in Philadelphia, he roots for the Phillies, and when he’s campaigning in Tampa Bay, he shows love to the Rays. It’s kind of like the way he campaigns on tax cuts, but then votes for tax increases after he’s elected.”

But here in Florida, Mr. Obama purposefully struck a serious tone. He briefly admonished some members of the crowd for chanting, saying: “No cheerleading. We have some serious business to do.”

Mr. Obama renewed his proposal to create a tax credit for new employees hired by American companies over then next two years. He called for new jobs to be created across the country by putting people to work rebuilding and repairing roads, bridges and schools — significant elements of his economic stimulus plan that could be addressed following the election in a special session of Congress.

“Yesterday, I heard Senator McCain say that I’m more concerned with who gets your piece of the pie than with growing the pie,” Mr. Obama said. “But make no mistake about it, after eight years of Bush-McCain economics, the pie is now shrinking. That means lower wages and declining incomes and plummeting home values and rising unemployment.”

Mr. Obama was surrounded by four Democratic governors, representing such important electoral states as New Mexico, Michigan, Colorado and Ohio. He was also joined by a new supporter, Paul A. Volker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, along with Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google, and a small businesswoman from Florida.

“A crisis like this calls for the best ideas, the brightest minds, the most innovative solutions from every corner of this country,” Mr. Obama said. “These leaders need and deserve a partner in the White House, a president who understands that our prosperity doesn’t come from Wall Street or Washington, but from the hard work and ingenuity of our people.”

As for the baseball criticism, Mr. Obama is a Chicago White Sox fan, but has temporarily switched to the Phillies for the Series. But on Monday, he was endorsed at a rally in Tampa by six players for the Rays — outfielders Jonny Gomes and Carl Crawford, and Fernando Perez, the pitchers David Price and Edwin Jackson, and Cliff Floyd, the designated hitter.

Mr. Obama shook their hands, hugged them, smiled and offered: “I’ve said from the beginning that I am a unity candidate, bringing people together. So when you see a White Sox Fan showing love to the Rays, and the Rays showing some love back — you know we are on to something right here.”

Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting from Lake Worth., Fla., and Elisabeth Bumiller from Bensalem, Pa.