• Is Indiana Poised To Turn Into A Blue State?
• Obama Lays Out Manufacturing Plan As He Tours Michigan Plants
• Economic Report: Workers Feeling Pain From Food To Gas To Foreclosures

Economic Report:

By Doug Cunningham

Food prices were sharply higher in April – the biggest jump in food prices in 18 years. Inflation is running officially now at 3.9 percent. Gas prices have hit another record high. And home foreclosures in April were up 65 percent over a year ago – with more than 243,000 households going into foreclosure. Kevin Phillips, author of the book "Bad Money." says more misery is being felt by workers than government numbers indicate. He says real consumer prices are up by much more than the official inflation number.

While Senator Hillary Clinton spent Wednesday hitting the talk show circuit on the heels of her 41 point victory in West Virginia, Senator Barack Obama was hitting the manufacturing circuit in Michigan:

Senator Barack Obama spent Wednesday touring plants in Michigan on Wedenesday and while in Warren, Mich. He laid out his manufacturing plan. The proposal calls for $150 billion for the development of green technology over the next decade which he believes will result in the creation of more than 5 million green jobs and reinforce the country’s infrastructure. Obama used the opportunity to take on his Republican Presidential competitor John McCain. He said McCain doesn’t have a vision for bringing jobs back to Michigan or even creating new ones. Obama said his plan will benefit from the skilled workforce that already exists in the Midwest by offering job training that allows competition in the world economy. McCain’s campaign fired back after Obama spoke calling his manufacturing plan “weak leadership and poor judgment.”

By Doug Cunningham

Will a blue tide wash the red away in many states and congressional districts this Fall? United Steelworkers Indiana Rapid Response Coordinator Brett Voorhies thinks it will. Democrats backed by unions have won three recent special elections in solid “red” congressional districts – Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. In Indiana Voorhies says the USW made the difference backing Jill Long Thompson – the first woman to win the Democratic gubernatorial nomination there. He believes unions will help turn Indiana blue, regardless of whether the Democratic presidential nominee is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.