In a Red State, Obama Tackles Issues of National Security

AN INDIANA ROUNDTABLE

In a Red State, Obama Tackles Issues of National Security

WEST LAFAYTETTE, Ind. -- Barack Obama promoted his proposals to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to countries unfriendly to the United States and to address other security threats at a campaign event in this traditionally Republican state. The Democratic candidate is targeting GOP strongholds early in the general-election battle.

Only a few days before a planned trip abroad to highlight his foreign policy credentials, Obama led a roundtable discussion that included Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and former Georgia senator Sam Nunn on the campus of Purdue University. Nunn has long worked on nonproliferation issues, and Bayh has served for years on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The senator from Illinois called for a renewed effort to secure nuclear weapons materials over the next four years from places such as the former Soviet Union. He also proposed convening a U.N. summit on the spread of nuclear terrorism and vowed to aim for a "nuclear-free world" by stopping the development of nuclear weapons.

Obama also suggested appointing a "national cyber-adviser" who would report to the president on computer security issues.

"We've had the debate about terrorism dominate so much of our politics over the last eight years, and rightfully so," he said. "What this panel emphasizes is -- because a small group of individuals has the capacity to create great havoc -- it is important we don't approach this as an either-or proposition but a 'both'-'and' proposition. Yes, we must hunt down terrorists, but we also have to deal with the weapons they might use and take them out of circulation."

Obama's campaign last week started running an ad touting his work on nuclear nonproliferation issues that noted his alliance in this cause with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), a popular politician in his home state. The commercial is running in the 18 states that the Obama campaign is now targeting with advertising, which include traditional swing states such as Ohio but also Indiana, Montana, Alaska and North Dakota, which have long voted Republican in presidential elections.

The campaign also plans to start running another ad touting his national security credentials Thursday on national cable channels. "Forty years ago it was missile silos and the Cold War. Today it's cyber-attacks, loose nukes, oil money funding terrorism," the ad's announcer says. "Barack Obama understands our changing world."

-- Perry Bacon J r.

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