Obama hears woes

Sen. Barack Obama led a sober town hall meeting Tuesday in North Las Vegas where people told the Democratic presidential candidate that there's more to the housing crisis than foreclosures and that its effect isn't limited to those who bought more home than they could afford.

The Illinois senator used the campaign stop to highlight his plans to address the nation's real estate troubles, including creation of a $10 billion foreclosure prevention fund to stem the tide of bank repossessions.

Obama also told the crowd of about 60 gathered at the College of Southern Nevada campus on Cheyenne Avenue that he favored a plan proposed by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., that would use the Federal Housing Administration to convert high-cost mortgages into more traditional, and affordable, loans.

The mortgage lending industry needs more monitoring and consumer protection requirements, he said.

"Oversight and regulation are absolutely vital," Obama said, citing the need for a "transparent and accountable system."

"That's the only way to stabilize the credit market," he said. "Stabilize the credit market, and banks can start lending again."

Obama's stop was part of a Western campaign swing that included New Mexico and Colorado, states that with Nevada all went Republican by narrow margins four years ago.

The Democrat's visit to the valley, with Arizona Sen. John McCain's stop in Northern Nevada today, signals the Silver State is again seen as a battleground in the race for president.

During the North Las Vegas town hall meeting, Francisco Lomeli told Obama that tighter lending standards in the wake of the foreclosure crisis, with student loan debt, were preventing him from buying a home.

Lomeli and his wife decided to put off buying a house until she finished nursing school, he said.

"It seemed back then that the house dream was there. Make it through college, we can make it happen," he said. "But now the dream seems to have gotten further away from us. We don't know who to trust. We don't trust the lenders. We don't trust the banks."

And because they have student loan debt, the lenders do not trust them either: "Now the credit people are, 'No, no, no,' because we're in debt."

Deborah Lewis had another angle on the housing crunch. Her mother-in-law's savings have been exhausted by a $6,000-a-month bill for a dementia care home, but the family has not been able to sell her house to keep paying bills because of the real estate downturn.

That financial responsibility probably will fall to her children, many of whom are readying to retire, she said.

Before the town hall meeting, Obama stopped briefly at the downtown Las Vegas residence of Felicitas Rosel and Francisco Cano, who are worried they might lose the home they bought three years ago with an adjustable-rate mortgage.

"At the beginning it was OK, but all of a sudden, it started going up and up," Rosel told Obama.

Tighter regulation of lenders could have prevented their plight, Obama said. "A lot of this wouldn't have happened if we had done a better job of regulating the banks and the mortgages. Nobody was watching them," he said.

Obama hardly mentioned his rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., on Tuesday, and instead aimed his criticism at McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

He said that McCain and President Bush had scheduled a fundraiser in Phoenix on Tuesday, "behind closed doors ... no cameras, no reporters, and we all know why.

"Senator McCain doesn't want to be seen hat in hand with a president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years," Obama said.

He criticized McCain for not including the housing meltdown in a recent economic speech, an assertion McCain's campaign denied.

"John McCain has introduced a solutions-based plan targeting the mortgage crisis, and today he launched campaign advertisements in key swing states highlighting his intentions to fight foreclosures," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said.

"It isn't surprising that Barack Obama is trying to disguise his lack of depth and weak leadership on economic issues with political generalizations and partisan attacks."

McCain's campaign Web site outlines his proposal, which would allow people with a "non-conventional" mortgage taken out after 2005 who still live in their homes to replace their existing mortgage with a loan guaranteed by the FHA.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., sought to tamp Obama's appearance in the valley by calling the Democratic presidential candidate a liberal who "does not match up" with Nevada.

Though Democrats have built an advantage in voter registration, Ensign said Nevada "is a right-of-center state" in casting ballots.

"I expect John McCain to win Nevada, and I think he reflects more Nevada values than Barack Obama," he said.

Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report. Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetrault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.