By Sean Mussenden
Media General News Service
Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON-Barack Obama stepped up his attack on John McCain's economic policies Wednesday, airing a new TV ad in North Carolina that blamed McCain for the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the state.
The ad - "Mills" - highlights a North Carolina yarn company forced to close 17 plants in the state and lay off 2,600 workers after several major trade deals - which McCain supported - allowed the company's customers to import cheaper yarn.
As the economic crisis has worsened over the last few weeks, Obama has expanded his lead in both national polls and gained in battleground states like North Carolina, which a Democratic presidential candidate has not carried in more than 30 years.
Polls show voters believe Obama, a Democrat, is better suited than McCain, a Republican, to deal with the economy. With the focus on that issue, Obama has managed to erase the 10-point lead McCain held in North Carolina in early September.
Few economic issues in North Carolina are as politically potent as the decline of the state's manufacturing industry over the last two decades.
The ailing furniture, textile and apparel industries generally pin their woes on the passage of deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement and an expansion of trade with China, all passed since the mid-1990s.
The chairman of the company featured in the Obama ad - Carolina Mills - said in an interview that after the trade deals passed he could not compete with the lower prices that Central American and Asian competitors offered his customers.
Eventually, George Moretz said, he was forced to close 17 plants in North Carolina - including one in Statesville - and lay off 2,600 workers, beginning in 2001. The company outsourced some yarn production to Asia and began focusing on niche products, like silver-coated thread used in medical procedures.
To stay afloat, the company also began investing in other businesses - a security service and a trucking firm. It survives today but with a drastically different business model and fewer employees in its headquarters in Maiden, N.C., northwest of Charlotte.
"We're really more of an investment company than a manufacturing company today," Moretz said.
In the Obama ad - which the campaign said would air statewide - a narrator says McCain "sold out" workers by voting for deals like NAFTA, CAFTA and the pact with China and by maintaining tax credits for companies that outsource jobs to other countries.
McCain has long supported free-trade policies and backed all three of those deals. Obama voted against CAFTA. Obama was not in the Senate for NAFTA or the expansion of trade with China, but has said he would have voted against them.
In North Carolina and Rust Belt states hurt by manufacturing job losses, Obama repeatedly criticized the trade deals during the primaries. He suggested he would look at renegotiating the deals, if elected. But he has toned down the protectionist rhetoric since then, and his advisers have at times sent conflicting signals about his views on free trade.
A spokesman for McCain in North Carolina declined comment on the charges made in the ad.
Instead, he provided a statement from a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, who attacked Obama's tax proposals.
"Hardworking families of North Carolina cannot afford Barack Obama's economic policies at time when their hard-earned money is already spread too thin," said Katie Wright, a spokeswoman for the RNC.
Though Moretz, a Republican, blames McCain and other lawmakers who voted for the trade deals for the decline of his company, he said he would probably vote for him anyway. He long ago concluded that regardless of which party holds the White House, free trade is inevitable.
"The bureaucracy in Washington has a free trade bias. All these guys go to Yale or Harvard or Ivy League schools, and that's what they teach them there - free trade," he said.
Sean Mussenden can be reached at smussenden@mediageneral.com or 202-662-7668.
The ad - "Mills" - highlights a North Carolina yarn company forced to close 17 plants in the state and lay off 2,600 workers after several major trade deals - which McCain supported - allowed the company's customers to import cheaper yarn.
As the economic crisis has worsened over the last few weeks, Obama has expanded his lead in both national polls and gained in battleground states like North Carolina, which a Democratic presidential candidate has not carried in more than 30 years.
Polls show voters believe Obama, a Democrat, is better suited than McCain, a Republican, to deal with the economy. With the focus on that issue, Obama has managed to erase the 10-point lead McCain held in North Carolina in early September.
Few economic issues in North Carolina are as politically potent as the decline of the state's manufacturing industry over the last two decades.
The ailing furniture, textile and apparel industries generally pin their woes on the passage of deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement and an expansion of trade with China, all passed since the mid-1990s.
The chairman of the company featured in the Obama ad - Carolina Mills - said in an interview that after the trade deals passed he could not compete with the lower prices that Central American and Asian competitors offered his customers.
Eventually, George Moretz said, he was forced to close 17 plants in North Carolina - including one in Statesville - and lay off 2,600 workers, beginning in 2001. The company outsourced some yarn production to Asia and began focusing on niche products, like silver-coated thread used in medical procedures.
To stay afloat, the company also began investing in other businesses - a security service and a trucking firm. It survives today but with a drastically different business model and fewer employees in its headquarters in Maiden, N.C., northwest of Charlotte.
"We're really more of an investment company than a manufacturing company today," Moretz said.
In the Obama ad - which the campaign said would air statewide - a narrator says McCain "sold out" workers by voting for deals like NAFTA, CAFTA and the pact with China and by maintaining tax credits for companies that outsource jobs to other countries.
McCain has long supported free-trade policies and backed all three of those deals. Obama voted against CAFTA. Obama was not in the Senate for NAFTA or the expansion of trade with China, but has said he would have voted against them.
In North Carolina and Rust Belt states hurt by manufacturing job losses, Obama repeatedly criticized the trade deals during the primaries. He suggested he would look at renegotiating the deals, if elected. But he has toned down the protectionist rhetoric since then, and his advisers have at times sent conflicting signals about his views on free trade.
A spokesman for McCain in North Carolina declined comment on the charges made in the ad.
Instead, he provided a statement from a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, who attacked Obama's tax proposals.
"Hardworking families of North Carolina cannot afford Barack Obama's economic policies at time when their hard-earned money is already spread too thin," said Katie Wright, a spokeswoman for the RNC.
Though Moretz, a Republican, blames McCain and other lawmakers who voted for the trade deals for the decline of his company, he said he would probably vote for him anyway. He long ago concluded that regardless of which party holds the White House, free trade is inevitable.
"The bureaucracy in Washington has a free trade bias. All these guys go to Yale or Harvard or Ivy League schools, and that's what they teach them there - free trade," he said.
Sean Mussenden can be reached at smussenden@mediageneral.com or 202-662-7668.