John McCain’s aim to cut all Amtrak funding would seriously harm the transportation needs of millions of voters particularly those in some key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, and Michigan.
Here is a useful political gift to the Obama campaign.
Today Amtrak serves over 28 million passengers a year on routes that crisscross the United States from east to west and from north to south. High gasoline prices are cutting into long-range automobile trips in the United States. As a result, Amtrak rail travel is experiencing its busiest year ever. This past July the number of Amtrak passengers was up 14 percent over the same month in 2007.
But this important passenger rail company is having difficulty meeting increasing demand for quality service. Congress has been unwilling to appropriate necessary funds for proper maintenance and upgraded equipment.
Over the years, one man has played a major role in blocking funding for Amtrak. This is Senator John McCain of Arizona, the GOP nominee for president of the United States.
Despite the fact that there are two Amtrak corridors across his home state of Arizona, John McCain has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Amtrak system. In 2000 when McCain chaired the Senate’s Science, Commerce, and Transportation Committee, he killed a $10 billion appropriation that would have been used to modernize the railroad’s fleet, improve track, and finance other improvements that would have enabled Amtrak to better compete with other transportation systems.
A year later in 2001, McCain once again refused to consider funds for capital improvements. At that time, fellow GOP Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, who supported more funding for the railroad, said that Amtrak is "doomed to failure if we don’t give it an opportunity to succeed." But once again in 2003, McCain said "no."
It is probable that funding for Amtrak would be eliminated under any federal budget proposed by a President McCain, despite the fact that a strong public transportation system can go a long way to relieving the country’s demand for foreign oil.
In contrast to McCain, Barack Obama has proposed a substantial national investment in interstate, high-speed passenger rail service.
Here is a winning political issue for Obama. McCain’s desire to cut all Amtrak funding would seriously harm the transportation needs of millions of people particularly in some key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, and Michigan.
Consider the following statistics:
• In Florida more than 840,000 people used Amtrak in 2007. Nearly a quarter-million people used the AutoTrain between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida. Many of these people winter in Florida and will probably be in the state on Election Day. If they knew that McCain would be taking away this valuable transportation service, they may be inclined to switch their votes to Obama.
• Nowhere is Amtrak more important than in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Amtrak operates 120 daily trains within Pennsylvania. In addition, there are numerous interstate routes such as the Capital Limited from Washington to Chicago through Pittsburgh, the Lakeshore Limited from New York to Chicago which runs through Erie, and the Silver Star, a daily New York to Miami run that stops in Philadelphia.
More than 5.2 million passengers either boarded or disembarked an Amtrak train in Pennsylvania in 2007. More than 3.6 million passengers passed through Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. Amtrak contributes over $117 million to the Pennsylvania economy and employs thousands of Pennsylvanians.
• Last year nearly 1 million passengers used Amtrak in Virginia. Nearly a quarter million people boarded or got off trains in Richmond.
• In Michigan three quarters of a million people boarded or disembarked on Amtrak. The largest use was at the Ann Arbor station.
• In the key state of Colorado more than 200,000 people used Amtrak in 2007.
Clearly passenger rail service is not going to be a most important issue for many voters. But for undecided voters who use passenger train service Barack Obama’s strong position on support for Amtrak could win the Democratic candidate hundreds of thousands of votes.
On the other hand, if McCain’s position prevails, the rails will go silent and hundreds of thousands of voters will be inconvenienced. For Obama, a strong contrasting position on public support of Amtrak would be worth noting during campaign stops in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and other states.
The best venue for delivering this message to American voters would be a "whistle-stop" tour along an Amtrak route in Pennsylvania where Obama could highlight his differences with McCain on the funding of passenger rail service.
For a wide range of presidential campaign strategies go to ObamaElectionWatch.com.