NPR 2008-09-06

GOP presidential nominee 1 John McCain visited a small town outside Milwaukee today and promised to take his White House campaign to small towns throughout America. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

John McCain's first campaign stop after the GOP convention was a red, white and blue slice of Americana, as a picturesque 2 street in Cedarburg, Wisconsin was transformed into McCain Street, USA. While there McCain acknowledged a disappointing new jobs report which showed unemployment climbing to a nearly five-year high, McCain's prescription 3 is to extend the Bush tax cuts while lowering taxes on corporate 4 income. "All you ever asked of government is to stand on your side, not in your way. And that's what I intend to do: stand on your side and fight for your future." McCain also wants to negotiate new trade agreements, saying freer trade would promote new jobs. Scott Horsley, NPR News, with the McCain campaign in Wisconsin.

McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama was also talking jobs and the economy today during a campaign stopover in Pennsylvania. The Democratic presidential nominee said the news that the nation's unemployment rate rose four tenths of a percent last month to 6.1% shows an economy that's in bad shape. "We just got a jobs report today that showed we had lost another 80,000 jobs. 80,000 jobs lost, we've now lost 605,000 jobs since the beginning of this year." Speaking at a glass factory in Duryea, Pennsylvania, Obama accused the Republicans of ignoring the middle class.

Talks with a federal mediator 5 and union negotiators at Boeing have failed to reach a deal on a contract with the International Association of Machinists, now saying a strike will commence at one minute after midnight. Union officials said despite meetings late into the night and through today, continued talks failed to address issues. Rank and file members have already authorized 6 the strike after rejecting a contract offer from the company that would have called for an 11% pay raise over three year. The union represents around 27,000 Boeing employees.

Tropical storm Hanna appears to be picking up steam as it moves toward the Carolinians, where already rained from the storm's outer bands is being felt. Right now, the storm remains 7 just below hurricane strength and is centered about 160 miles southeast of Charleston with top winds of 70 miles an hour. However forecasters think it will intensify 8. North Carolina Governor Mike Easley said residents should not go out into the storm and should heed 9 warnings from local authorities. "It is not fun to hear those winds for 6 to 7 hours and just sweat that out. It's, it's always good to heed the evacuation warnings if you get ... " Forecasters still aren't sure exactly where Hanna will come ashore 10, however they expect the storm will arrive near the North Carolina-South Carolina border bringing heavy rain to the coastal 11 Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 33 points to end the week at 11,220. For the week, the Dow was down 2.8%. The NASDAQ lost 3 points today.

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A top US general in Afghanistan says attacks by the Taliban and other fighters have increased as much as 30% over the same time last year. He admits more needs to be done with more troops and development money. NPR's Tom Bowman has that story.

Major General Jeffrey Schloesser commands troops in the eastern part of Afghanistan, part of against the border with Pakistan. He's planning a winter offensive against Taliban fighters and he expects attacks against US and coalition 12 forces to be harder than at any time since 2002. Schloesser is pressing for more US troops. And some are expected to be announced next week - another 4,000 army troops, but they're not expected to arrive until February. The general says we're not losing in Afghanistan. "The Afghan army and police forces continue to get stronger," he says. Pressed by reporters on whether coalition forces are winning, Schloesser says he's overseeing a slow win. It'll take longer, he adds, to turn that into a solid strong win. Tom Bowman, NPR news, the Pentagon.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the US Treasury 13 Department is close to finalizing 14 a plan to help shore up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In a story posted on its website, the journal says an announcement could come as early as this weekend. Treasury spokesperson told NPR "we are making progress." The journal report says the plan includes changes in senior management at the beleaguered 15 companies and involves "creative use" of the Treasury's new authority to inject capital into Fannie and Freddie.

Crude oil prices continued their downward slide today with near month contract for benchmark grade crude falling $1.66 a barrel to end the session at $106.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.