With the U.S. presidential campaign headed into its final weekend, Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) made final pushes for votes, and analysts began looking ahead to the transition of administrations that will follow the November 4 vote. The Financial Times reports Obama’s campaign is sticking largely to its economic message as it enters the final few days of campaigning. The Los Angeles Times looks at McCain’s final days of campaigning in potential swing states Ohio and Florida, and says both candidates have sought to highlight differences in their economic plans.
A new CFR.org Daily Analysis looks at how foreign policy issues have played out over the course of the campaign, dominated in its later stages by the financial crisis. The article says despite the recent focus on economic concerns, questions of national security and U.S. global influence stayed in focus throughout the process. In a Newsweek cover story, CFR President Richard Haass presents a foreign policy plan for the next U.S. president.
PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow he plans to try to “facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and resolve the Kashmir crisis.” Obama also discussed his plan to send more troops to Afghanistan and said he will provide alternatives to farmers in the poppy trade there.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Sen. John McCain’s runningmate, spoke broadly (CNN) about national security Thursday after meeting with a group of McCain campaign national security advisers. “It used to be we could place domestic and foreign concerns in more or less distinct categories — and choose a president according to which seemed the greater priority at the time. But the world has so drastically changed and those days are gone,” she said. “Even if a most immediate concern is economic, our recovery will still depend on leadership that can protect and advance our security and our vital interests in the world.”
