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B.O. woos working-class voters in Michigan
 Democrat Barack Obama, campaigning in a state that poses several challenges for him in the fall, appealed to working-class voters Wednesday with a pledge to pump billions of dollars into efforts to revitalize the nation's manufacturing sector.One day after blue-collar workers overwhelmingly rejected him in West Virginia's presidential primary, Obama came to this auto-making suburb of Detroit to announce plans to create an "advanced manufacturing fund" to promote industries likely to keep jobs in the United States rather than see them move overseas. Obama couched it as part of his previously announced plan to spend $150 billion over 10 years to develop and deploy what he calls "clean technologies." In a new initiative, Obama proposed spending $90 million a year to double the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The 20-year-old program has helped manufacturers improve efficiency and growth, he said, but has been underfunded. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his Democratic rival, made a similar proposal months ago. Another $100 million annually would launch the advanced manufacturing fund, which would award grants to businesses working with researchers to develop and expand products and efficient practices. Posted by: Fred 2008-05-15 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=239095 |