McCain struggles to connect on economy

TIMES UNION.COM

BELLEVILLE, Mich. -- Sen. John McCain ventured to an auto-parts supplier in this hard-hit Detroit suburb to express sympathy for those affected by Michigan's economic malaise and to talk up his ideas for creating jobs in the region.

But a day after a top McCain economic adviser dismissed the nation's struggles as a "mental recession," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's message landed with a thud, as workers sat in stony silence.

McCain was already running into a stiff head wind because of an ailing economy, and his task only became tougher after former senator Phil Gramm, R-Texas, suggested that the United States has "become a nation of whiners."

Gramm, who has helped shape McCain's presidential campaign and is a close friend of the candidate, expressed no regret on Thursday for the comments he made in an interview with the Washington Times. But the McCain campaign quickly shifted into damage-control mode, distancing the candidate from his friend's assessment.

Gramm "does not speak for me. I speak for me. I strongly disagree," McCain said during a session with the press.

"The person here in Michigan who just lost his job isn't suffering from a mental recession," McCain added.

Since saying last winter that economic policy is not his strong suit -- a comment that won him a pummeling from his primary-election opponents -- McCain has struggled to show voters that he understands their pain as they grapple with six months of steadily declining payrolls, a bear market on Wall Street, soaring energy and food costs, rising home foreclosures and stagnant economic growth.

The backdrop could not have been worse. The unemployment rate in the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn area is 10.2 percent. The region lost 47,400 payroll jobs. Over the past year, Michigan, with an 8.5 percent overall unemployment rate, lost 68,900 jobs.

McCain is hoping to put the state into play, but on Thursday, in this Detroit suburb, his efforts ran into a wall. He said repeatedly that he understands how much the Michigan economy had declined..............