The Philadelphia Phillies aren't the only ones getting ready for the fall classic. John McCain brought his campaign to Pennsylvania today
and it was clear that they are gearing up for their own World Series - the World Series of Scare Tactics and Distortion. Behind in the count, the McCain team is swinging for the fences, saying just about anything to win this election.

But the box score shows that the McCain campaign just can't connect with the truth.

1st inning

"I will provide every single American family with a $5000 refundable tax credit to help them purchase health care insurance. Workers who already have insurance from their employers will keep it and have more money to cover costs. Workers who don't have health insurance can use it to find a policy anywhere in this country to meet their basic needs." - John McCain, Bensalem, PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Struck out!
McCain would pay for his health care tax credit by taxing health care benefits for the first time in history, and cause 20 million workers,
including 875,000 Pennsylvania workers, to lose the coverage they get from their employers. This is an old Washington bait and switch: McCain
would give a tax credit with one hand-but would raise taxes with the other to pay for it.

According to The Wall Street Journal, McCain would fund his radical restructuring of the health care system by slashing Medicare and
Medicaid by $1.3 trillion over ten years-funding cuts which would devastate these programs and mean higher premiums and co-pays, limited
services, and more expensive prescription drugs for seniors. Currently, 2.2 million seniors in Pennsylvania rely on Medicare, and Medicaid
serves nearly 1 million kids in Pennsylvania.

2nd Inning
"And we will...keep American businesses in America." - John McCain,
Bensalem, PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Fly ball to right field!
McCain has repeatedly supported tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. And he supports tax cuts for corporations, even if they do not invest in America or create a single American job. McCain also says that he has a "philosophical" objection to "Buy American" requirements and even sponsored the amendment to end the Defense Department's "Buy American" requirement. According to McCain, "Buy American" requirements are "perverted," "ludicrous," "unnecessary and counter-productive," and "disgraceful ... I cannot be more strong in my views without using four letter words."

3rd inning
"Senator Obama...will force them into a new huge government run health care program." - John McCain, Bensalem, PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Thrown out at first!
The Obama-Biden health care plan provides access to affordable, quality health care for all Americans, including the 1.2 million uninsured in
Pennsylvania. Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as
$2,500 per year. If you don't have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options. The Obama-Biden plan allows patients to make health care decisions with their doctors, instead of being blocked by insurance company bureaucrats.

4th Inning
"You know, when he was asked by Charlie Gibson about capital gains taxes he said it doesn't matter if it hurts the economy, it's all fairness." - John McCain, Bensalem, PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Grounded out to third!
Despite McCain's misleading rhetoric, Barack Obama would actually eliminate capital gains for investments in small businesses and leave the capital gains tax rate unchanged for everyone making less than $250,000. That would cover 98 percent of all small businesses.

For people earning more than $250,000, the rate would return to 20 percent -- the lowest rate that existed in the 1990s and the rate President Bush proposed in his 2001 tax cut. It is almost a third lower than the rate that President Reagan signed into law in 1986.

5th inning
"He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy." - John McCain, Bensalem, PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Fly ball caught in deep left field!
Giving a tax cut to middle-class folks and expanding opportunity for all is as American as apple pie. Barack Obama will send immediate tax relief to 95 percent of workers and their families, and he won't raise any taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year. Under the Obama-Biden tax plan, no American will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s.

If anyone needs to explain their policies about redistributing wealth, it's John McCain. He would give $4 billion in tax cuts to oil companies
like Exxon-Mobil, who have broken profit records, and $200 billion in tax cuts to the biggest corporations in America. But McCain won't give
a single dime of tax relief to 101 million households, including 4.7 million here in Pennsylvania and 97 percent of all Pennsylvania seniors.


6th Inning
"I have a plan to protect the value of your home and get it rising again by buying up bad mortgages and refinancing them so if your neighbor
defaults he doesn't bring down the value of your house with him." - John McCain, Bensalem, PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Foul ball caught by the catcher!
McCain offers a $300 billion giveaway for Wall Street banks-but does little to help middle class families stay in their homes. Unlike Barack
Obama, who fought for provisions in the Economic Recovery Package to protect taxpayers and guarantee them relief, the McCain mortgage plan
calls on the government to purchase $300 billion worth of mortgages at their full face value-sticking taxpayers with the full losses on these
properties and putting them at risk of losing even more if home values don't recover. McCain's plan rewards irresponsible banks with taxpayer
money and fails to give the taxpayers any future benefit should house prices recover. McCain's Plan is a recipe for the worst kind of bailout
abuse.

Obama knows we need to provide relief for homeowners who are watching their home values decline while property taxes go up-and we need to act quickly and decisively. Obama believes the Treasury must use the authority it's been granted and move aggressively to help people avoid
foreclosure and stay in their homes. For responsible homeowners in danger of losing their homes, Obama has proposed a three-month
moratorium on foreclosures to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet.

7th inning
"This weekend, Senator Biden guaranteed that if Senator Obama is elected, we will have an international crisis to test America's new
President." - John McCain, Bensalem, PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Grounded out to short!
Every president is tested in the first year of their term - George W. Bush with the attacks of 9/11, and Bill Clinton with Somalia and the first World Trade Center attacks.

Senator Biden was stating the obvious: with two wars going on - and after eight years of a foreign policy that has made us less safe - the
next president is going to confront real challenges.

What he also said is that Barack Obama has the "steel in his spine" to take on these challenges and protect us here at home.

That's something that General Colin Powell agrees with as well. In endorsing Obama, Powell - a lifelong Republican - said: he's confident
that Obama "will be ready to take on these challenges on January 21st." He praised Obama's "steady" leadership and make it clear that he's the president we need right now.

8th Inning
"If I'm elected President, I won't spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money. Senator Obama will. And he can't do that without
raising your taxes or digging us further into debt. I'm going to make government live on a budget just like you do." - John McCain, Bensalem,
PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Caught stealing second!
According to the Tax Policy Center, over the course of a decade Obama's plan would result in a national debt $1.2 trillion smaller than you
would get under McCain's plan. Bloomberg reports that "McCain's spending cuts, combined with increased revenue from economic growth, total $1.5
trillion over eight years, leaving a $1.8 trillion net increase to the national debt."

Barack Obama has detailed how he would pay for every one of his spending proposals, and the spending and cuts roughly cost out, according to the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Independent organizations from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal to the Tax Policy Center have looked at Obama's plan and come to the same conclusion - his numbers add up.


9th inning
"Senator Obama wants to raise taxes." - John McCain, Bensalem, PA, Oct. 21, 2008

Tagged out at the plate!
Under Barack Obama's plan, middle-class families will face the lowest income tax rates in over 50 years. According to the nonpartisan Tax
Policy Center, the Obama-Biden plan would reduce taxes as a share of the economy to less than 18.2 percent - the level of taxes that prevailed
under Ronald Reagan. If a family makes less than $250,000 a year, Barack Obama will not raise their taxes at all - not income taxes,
capital-gains taxes, dividend, or payroll taxes.

Obama will provide a tax cut of $1,000 for 95 percent of workers and their families-real relief for Americans who need it the most. He'll
provide struggling homeowners relief by offering a tax credit that covers 10 percent of their mortgage interest payment every year, and
he'll eliminate income taxes entirely for seniors making less than $50,000, including 436,000 seniors in Pennsylvania.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center concluded that the middle class will get three times as much tax relief under Obama as they would under John
McCain. Obama will cut taxes for small businesses and for companies that create jobs in America.

John McCain's tax plan shows just how out of touch he is. He'll leave out 101 million households, including 4.7 million households in
Pennsylvania, while offering $4 billion in new tax giveaways to the oil and gas companies. And John McCain will tax health benefits as income
for the first time. Maybe that makes sense for someone who thinks "the fundamentals of our economy are strong," but it doesn't make sense to
hardworking American families.