Obama makes inroads with seniors

[Adelante]

As an older Obama supporter, I have had some discomfort with the dangers inherent in his generational change message, not enough to give up on him or to not understand the goal, but some unease about its political wisdom. I see here he is just doing it his way. Not in the parts excerpted is an interesting use of seniors in educating new caucus voters in Iowa.

Obama's campaign has a new wrinkle

By Janet Hook, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 18, 2007

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The stakes in the battle for seniors are especially high in Iowa, because the state's presidential nominating caucuses -- which are widely seen as a make-or-break first test for Obama -- have traditionally been dominated by senior citizens.

Even as Obama tries to mobilize legions of college-age activists, he is also reaching out to older voters with events tailored to their interests. He is, alone among the Democratic candidates, making a high-profile issue of shoring up Social Security. He has proposed abolishing the income tax for seniors making less than $50,000 a year. And he is recruiting older Iowa Democrats to teach new voters about the state's arcane caucus system.

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In New Hampshire, a recent Marist poll found that among men over 45, Obama leads Clinton 24% to 22% -- a big swing since October, when she led by a 20-point margin.

In Iowa, an October Hawkeye Poll of likely Democratic caucus-goers found Obama garnering support from 24% of those over 60, nearly double his August showing.

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In a visit to an Ottumwa elementary school during a bus tour of Iowa this month, Obama held a round-table discussion with seniors about retirement issues. His economic plan, unveiled earlier that week, included the proposal to eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 a year.

A recent ad on Iowa television focused on his call to shore up Social Security's finances. His proposal is particularly appealing to retirees, because it would not cut their benefits; instead it would raise the tax burden on wealthier workers. That proposal -- to raise the $95,700 cap on income that is subject to Social Security tax -- drew enthusiastic support at the round-table discussion.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama18nov18,1,175037.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=2&cset=true