By Jeff Mason
CEDARBURG, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Presidential rivals JohnMcCain and Barack Obama, back on the campaign trail after theirparty conventions, clashed over the ailing U.S. economy onFriday as unemployment hit its highest monthly rate in nearlyfive years.
Hours after accepting the Republican nomination, McCain andrunning mate Sarah Palin opened a two-month sprint to theNovember 4 presidential election in Wisconsin while DemocratObama headed to Pennsylvania as both sides touted cures for theeconomy.
A new report showed the U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly shotup to 6.1 percent in August, adding to worries about an economythat opinion polls show was already the top concern forAmerican voters.
"These are tough times," McCain told a crowd of some 12,000in the Milwaukee suburb of Cedarburg. "Today the jobs report isanother reminder.
"All you've ever asked of government is to stand on yourside, not in your way, and that's what I intend to do," theArizona senator said, pledging to keep taxes low and cut themwhere possible. He issued a statement promising to retrainworkers and enact an economic plan that would create jobs.
McCain, who later picked up the endorsement of theFraternal Order of Police union, rapped Obama's tax proposals,which include a large tax cut for lower- and middle-classworkers but would increase taxes for the wealthiest Americans."The American people cannot afford a Barack Obama presidency,"he said in the statement.
Obama, an Illinois senator, said the job losses showed theneed for change in the economic approach used by PresidentGeorge W. Bush since he came into office in 2001.
Speaking to workers at a glass and lens manufacturer inDuryea, Pennsylvania, and chatting with customers while eatingbanana cream pie at The Avenue Diner in Wyoming, Pennsylvania,Obama chided McCain for failing to address the economy at theRepublican convention.
"You would think George Bush and his potential Republicansuccessor John McCain would be spending a lot of time worryingabout the economy, all these jobs that are being lost on theirwatch," Obama said.
"But if you watched the Republican national convention overthe last three days you wouldn't know that," he said. "We havehighest unemployment rate in five years but they didn't say athing about what is what going on with the middle class."
"HE JUST DOESN'T GET IT"
Obama portrayed McCain as being out of touch with ordinaryAmerican workers.
"John McCain the other day said that he thought the economywas fundamentally sound," he said. "Well what's morefundamental than having a job?
"He just doesn't get it," Obama said. "I don't think theyhave a sense of what people are going through."
He touted his own plans for boosting the U.S. economy,saying he would enact tax cuts that would benefit 95 percent ofAmericans, end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseasand make health care more affordable.
The renewed battle on the economy came the day afterMcCain's acceptance speech concluded the Republican convention.Obama accepted the Democratic nod at his party's convention theweek before.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whorepeatedly ridiculed Obama during her convention speech,campaigned with McCain in Wisconsin, again taking on the roleof attacker by blasting Obama for his stance on the Iraq war.
She told the cheering Cedarburg crowd that Obama onThursday night finally admitted the decision to boost trooplevels in Iraq was successful and ridiculed him for saying ithad "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams."
"I guess when you turn out to be profoundly wrong on avital national security issue, maybe it's comforting to pretendthat everyone else was wrong too," she said, adding that McCainwas "one leader in Washington who did predict success, whorefused to call retreat and risked his own career."
McCain has been one of the most outspoken supporters ofU.S. military involvement in Iraq, while Obama touts his recordof opposing the war from the start.
After Wisconsin, the McCain and Palin headed for Michigan,where they picked up the endorsement of the 327,000-memberFraternal Order of Police, and later Colorado, followed by NewMexico on Saturday. Obama was travelling across Pennsylvania toNew Jersey, where he planned a fundraiser at the home of JonBon Jovi.
A record 38.9 million U.S. TV viewers -- more than one in10 people -- watched McCain's acceptance speech to theconvention, topping the 38.3 million people who watched Obama'sthe week before, Nielsen Media Research reported. Palin drew37.2 million viewers.
McCain trails Obama slightly in most national opinion pollsas they head into the election but he promised the Republicanfaithful at the convention he would win. Polls show majoritiesfavour Obama's leadership on the economy, although McCain isusually favoured on foreign policy issues.
With the conventions out of the way, the next big campaignmilestone is the first of three debates, on September 26 inOxford, Mississippi.
(Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst in Pennsylvania)
