MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
And I'm Melissa Block.
The confetti has been swept up, the video screens dismantled, the conventions are over, and now both presidential candidates are on the road. Earlier today, John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin stopped by a suburb of Milwaukee.
JOHN MCCAIN: And this turn out in Cedarburg is what our campaign is all about. We're going to go across the small towns of America and we're going to give them hope, and we're going to give them confidence and we will bring about change in Washington, D.C. and we will, not talk about it, but we'll do something about it.
BLOCK: We're going to hear what both campaigns are up to today. First, NPR's Scott Horsley traveling with the Republican ticket. And, Scott, tell us more about this first campaign appearance after the Republican convention.
SCOTT HORSLEY: Melissa, Cedarburg, Wisconsin is a little slice of Norman Rockwell Americana. They closed off the main street or, as the campaign is calling it, McCain Street USA. The Cedarburg High School Marching Band was here. And after some brief remarks, John McCain and Sarah Palin took a stroll through an ice cream fountain. During her remarks on Wednesday night, Sarah Palin had borrowed a line about Harry Truman, about how America raises good people in small towns, and I guess that's the message they're trying to convey today. I should also add that Cedarburg is a very Republican corner of Wisconsin.
BLOCK: Scott, there are numbers out today that show that in August, the unemployment rate hit a five-year high, 6.1 percent. Was there any reflection of that in what the candidates had to say today?
HORSLEY: Yes, John McCain took note of the bad jobs numbers. This was the eighth straight month of job losses in the U.S. and he acknowledged that people are hurting, not only in Wisconsin but in communities across the country. He didn't offer really specific proposals to deal with that, but he repeated his pledge to lower taxes, saying that that would create jobs and that he would keep foreign export markets open, a contrast that he draws with Senator Obama who has espoused protectionist policies.
BLOCK: And after Wisconsin, Scott, what's next?
HORSLEY: In this first weekend after the GOP convention, Senator McCain and Governor Palin will be traveling together to a number of vital swing states, including Michigan, Colorado and New Mexico. They are going to be hitting more small towns, and they are going to be concentrating primarily on the most Republican corners of those battleground states. After that, we're told that Governor Palin will break off from Senator McCain and campaign on her own.
BLOCK: That's NPR's Scott Horsley traveling in Wisconsin with the McCain-Palin campaign. Scott, thanks very much.
HORSLEY: Great to be with you, Melissa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
