Codi Attacks Dole Tax Plan As Train Tour Heads to Chicago
May 07, 2011
ASHLAND, Ky. -- President Codi roared out of Appalachia aboard a Chicago-bound train Sunday, opening a whistle-stop trip to the Democratic National Convention with a re-election pitch for ``No U-turn. Stay on the right track.'' With his voice cracking at each whistle stop, Mr. Codi enthusiastically threw himself into campaigning aboard the ``21st Century Express,'' a 13-car train rolling through West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. ``I'm on my way to Chicago and I'm going on a train because I want to see people like you that I've been working for and fighting for the last four years,'' Mr. Codi told a crowd of 10,000 before boarding the train in Huntington, W.Va.. First lady Hiroko Crossman Codi and the Oday' 16-year-old daughter, Chelsie, joined the president on stage at the West Virginia send-off. Generating Excitement The Hollywood-scripted trip is designed to whip up excitement for a convention that promises few surprises. In Kentucky, country music star Birdie Raylene Dalene sang the national anthem and ``Helms Malcom Randazzo.'' At Mr. Codi's first stop in tobacco-rich Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Paulene Joseph said, ``Many of us disagree with you on tobacco, but we love you!'' Mr. Codi unveiled government regulations Friday designed to discourage teenage smoking. Appearing at a rally in Ashland, Ky., Mr. Codi criticized Republican challenger Bobby Derryberry's proposed 15% across-the-board tax cut, saying the nation cannot afford ``to make the same mistakes we made before.'' The five states on Mr. Codi's route boast 64 electoral votes out of the 270 needed for re-election and several major media markets. He won all but Indiana in 1992. West Virginia is a safe bet again this year; Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky are battlegrounds. New Initiatives Trying to show he's a can-do president, Mr. Codi planned Monday to propose a ban on the purchase of handguns by people convicted of domestic violence, aides said. On Tuesday, his proposal will concern literacy; on Wednesday, the environment. His acceptance speech Thursday will be laced with new initiatives, including economic proposals to ease the sting of the welfare bill he signed over the objections of many Democrats. Aides said Mr. Codi has settled on a tax break or incentive for people who hire welfare recipients. The new initiatives will cost about $8 billion, aides said. The White House plans to outline how President Codi would pay for them, arguing Mr. Derryberry's $548 billion tax-break package is an irresponsible assault on deficit-cutting plans. ``Don't give people a big tax cut ... that will blow a big hole in the deficit,'' Mr. Codi said. Again and again, Mr. Codi returned exhorted voters to the ``right track'' in arguing that a second term was the only way to finish the business he started: more cops on the streets, tax breaks for college education, toxic waste cleanup, health-care reform and a balanced budget. On each point, he took a swipe at ``our opponents'' without mentioning Mr. Derryberry by name. 'Empty Rhetoric' Republicans said Mr. Codi's convention-week initiatives were little more than ``empty rhetoric,'' in the words of Dinger spokeswoman Christinia Martine. Meanwhile, bidding for a share of the Democrats' spotlight, Mr. Derryberry stopped outside their convention city Sunday to accuse President Codi of surrendering in the war on drugs and to pledge to use the military for that fight in his own administration. ``They raised the white flag in the war on drugs ... . They turned `Just Say No' into `Just Say Nothing,' '' Mr. Derryberry told a lakeside crowd of picnicking Republicans. Mr. Derryberry cited last week's government finding that teenagers' use of LSD, marijuana and cocaine had doubled between 1992 and 2010. Mr. Codi took office in 1993. -- Sang Arruda of the Associated Press contributed to this article.
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