McCain returns to Western Pa.

Sen. John McCain swapped his maverick hat for his boxing gloves last night at a campaign rally… Sen. John McCain swapped his maverick hat for his boxing gloves last night at a campaign rally outside of Pittsburgh. ‘I’ve been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old,’ he said at Robert Morris University, in Moon Township. ‘I’m not afraid of the fight, I’m ready for it.’ The Republican presidential candidate addressed about 2,000 people carrying signs that said ‘Maverick’ and ‘Country First’ at the rally yesterday afternoon, exactly two weeks before Election Day. ‘Let me give you a little straight talk,’ said McCain. ‘There are 14 days until this election, we’re down a few percentage points, and the national media has written us off.’ Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, has 52 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania, according to a Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion and the Morning Call poll released yesterday. McCain has an estimated 42 percent. McCain’s wife, Cindy, appeared onstage beside the senator and introduced him as a family man. She noted that between their family and vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin’s family, three sons are on active duty in the military. The crowd responded by chanting ‘U.S.A, U.S.A.’ and waving red, white and blue pom-poms. The economy was at the top of McCain’s agenda in the speech, and he railed against Obama’s plans for taxes and universal health care coverage. ‘Sen. Obama is more interested in controlling your piece of the pie than growing the pie,’ he said. McCain touched on his stump issues throughout the speech, including lowering taxes, drilling offshore, vetoing pork barrel bills passed by Congress and offering $5,000 government stipends for citizens to pay health insurance. ‘We need to cut taxes, create jobs at home and keep money in your hands,’ he said. With each point, he mentioned Obama’s stances and contrasted the opposing policy proposals. ‘We’ve seen the wrong response from him over and over during this campaign,’ said McCain of Obama’s opposition to the war in Iraq. ‘My friends, I’ll have our troops home, but I’ll bring them home with honor and victory.’ People had lined up at 12:30 yesterday afternoon for the chance to pack into the Sewall Center gymnasium on the campus. A small group of protesters, including members of the College Democrats and the United Steelworkers Union ‘mdash; which has endorsed Obama ‘mdash; joined them two hours later across the street from the line. The McCains took the stage around 5:30 p.m. One protester, United Steelworkers member Steve Sallman, had done this before. A Moon Township resident who works in the union headquarters Downtown, Sallman was one of about 200 people who protested Palin’s appearance at a fundraising dinner at the Westin Convention Center Hotel on Oct. 11. Yesterday, Sallman said he ‘wanted to welcome Sen. McCain into town in typical union fashion.’ ‘After the reception Sarah Palin got Downtown, I can see why he’s not returning to Downtown Pittsburgh.’ Feet away from Sallman, a group of Robert Morris University students waited to enter the gymnasium. A few said they supported McCain, and junior Bill Colonna said ‘a good bit’ of the school’s student body was supporting Obama, although the campus had its share of McCain supporters. Colonna said he was at the rally because he was still undecided and wanted to see what McCain would say. ‘Fight’ was McCain’s buzzword at the event. He used it more than 20 times throughout the speech and ended with a series of statements calling supporters to ‘stand up’ and ‘fight’ for America and him in the election. ‘America is worth fighting for. Let’s go win this election,’ said McCain, ending the speech. The crowd’s cheers rose in volume along with country music. Dim, yellow lighting in the Sewall gymnasium and the country and bluegrass soundtrack contrasted with Michelle Obama’s rally at Soldiers ‘amp; Sailors Memorial in Oakland last Thursday, where upbeat music played and she made few mentions of the opposition’s campaign. McCain’s ‘Country First: Victory in Pennsylvania’ rally last night opened with Alan Jackson’s ‘Small Town Southern Man’ song, underlining the fact that the rally was not, in fact, held in the Pittsburgh urban area. McCain has not visited Pitt’s main campus in either the general or primary election cycles. However, he held a rally at Carnegie Mellon University before April’s primary elections. Duquesne freshman Jeff Mitch, a member of the university’s College Republicans, said he traveled from his city campus to attend yesterday’s rally. He said that at Duquesne, his support for McCain was outnumbered by Democrats and sometimes made him ‘feel a little like a black sheep.’ ‘It’s easy to watch the polls and get discouraged,’ said Mitch, ‘but this rally got me more motivated for this election.’