Dems debut "Job-killing John" video

Local Democrats who support presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama held a news conference today in York.

State and local Democratic officials were responding to Sen. John McCain's upcoming visit to York by saying the candidate is out of touch with the American public.

State Rep. Eugene DePasquale and York Mayor John Brenner said at the IBEW Hall in York that the Arizona senator would continue failed economic policies.

Obama supporters are expected to gather outside the York Expo Center Tuesday to counter McCain's visit to York County. The grassroots effort will meet at 9 a.m. outside the Carlisle Ave. gate.

They also welcomed McCain to York County by unveiling a new video mocking the Republican called

Presidential candidate Barack Obama at a 2008 speech. He is a Democrat. (AP FILE PHOTO)"Job-Killing John."

The video highlights what they say is McCain's pattern of putting lobbyist's needs ahead of Americas' workers.

DEMOCRAT'S TAKE:

Participants told Senator McCain "we do not need four more years of job killing trade policies" like those supported by McCain and President Bush, local Democratic party officials said.

Senator McCain has repeatedly and forcefully supported job killing trade deals that have wreaked havoc on York's economy. But McCain has recently said that York residents are "better off because we have had a pretty good prosperous time." He also said Americans' economic problems are "psychological."


CANDIDATE BIO:

Barack Hussein Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His parents are Barack Obama, Sr. (from Kenya) and Ann Dunham (from Kansas). The couple was married and later divorced.

Obama lived in various places as a child before settling in Hawaii. He was enrolled in the fifth grade at the Punahou Academy in Hawaii, graduating with honors in 1979. Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He later transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983.

Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988. In February 1990, he was elected the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. Obama graduated magna cum laude in 1991. The next year, he worked on former President Bill Clinton's campaign.

Obama had at least one unsuccessful fun for national office. In 2004, Obama delivered the keynote speech in support of John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

He later ran for Senator in Illinois. In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70% of the vote in Illinois, the largest electoral victory in state history. Obama became only the third African American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction. He was sworn in January 4, 2005.

A junior U. S. Senator from Illinois, Obama is the first

ever African-American to become the presumptive presidential nominee for a U. S. major political party.
In June 3, he gained enough delegates to be nominated by the Democratic party at its national convention this month.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, live in Kenwood on Chicago's South Side with their two daughters.