McCain visit met by protesters

LIMA - Sen. John McCain's path to downtown Lima on Thursday was lined with almost as many protest signs as flags.

Members of the AFL-CIO and other northwest Ohio unions joined Barack Obama backers and others holding signs and chanting slogans outside Veterans Memorial Civic Center, where the presumptive Republican presidential candidate spoke. The signs differed from group to group, but the theme was pretty consistent.

"We have to change the direction of this country. McCain is not going to do that. It doesn't make much difference what the question is, his response is the same as George Bush's," said Michael Van Wagner, an electrician and Swanton AFL-CIO member.

Jobs and the economy were central to most of the three dozen or so people who showed up to wave signs outside the civic center. The state and region have seen a steady flow of jobs leaving for foreign soil. Van Wagner has little faith McCain will do anything to stop that flow.

"Mr. McCain already said he understands nothing about economics. Well, if we're giving tax breaks to companies to move their businesses outside the country, it doesn't take much economic understanding to know that's going to mean lost jobs," Van Wagner said.

Fred Hall, as assistant business manager for Toledo Chapter 85 of the Boilermakers union, was at the town square handing out Boilermakers for Obama T-shirts. He hoped to make his concerns known not just to the crowd of people waiting to get in for the senator's speech, but to the candidate himself.

"We want him to take notice that his policies just aren't in line with working families," Hall said.

And on which policies in particular is McCain out of sync with families?

"All of them," Hall said. "His domestic policies are all for corporations. They say they trickle down for families, but they never do."

Across the street from McCain's appearance, the crew at the local Obama campaign center watched as the line formed and continued with business as usual.

"We've been doing the same thing we do every day. We're registering people to vote and signing up volunteers," said volunteer Josiah Matthews.

Matthews, who recently launched his own campaign for Allen County commissioner, said he saw quite a few fellow Democrats in line to see McCain. And none of the waiting crowd could avoid seeing the headquarters, windows shaded by massive Obama signs.

"We're glad to see a lot of people here today. The good news is, they can just look over to the left and see they've still got hope," Matthews said.