Obama focuses on Ike

MANCHESTER--As Hurricane Ike bared down on the Texas coast, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama used a rally to urge people to help the hurricane victims.

The Manchester campaign rally was originally billed as a joint rally with Obama's running mate, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, but Biden's appearance at the event was cancelled because of the hurricane.

"I know that one of the things that we've seen after Gustov and that we saw after Katrina and Rita is that during difficult times, the most tragic, the American people come together," Obama told the crowd at Veterans Park. "We may argue, we may differ but we are all Americans and one of the principles of this great country is that there are times when we are all in it together."

The Illinois Senator also laid out his proposals on taxes, energy and healthcare.

Obama also criticized his rival, U.S. Sen. John McCain, for saying he will reform Washington but having a campaign run by lobbyists.

"The other day he said he's going to tell the lobbyist that they're not going to run Washington anymore," Obama said. "Who's he going to tell his campaign chairman? Who is one of the top corporate lobbyist in Washington. Who's he going to tell his campaign manager? Who is one of the top corporate lobbyist in Washington. What does that mean that he's going to tell them they're not going to run Washington when they run his campaign. When they're going to run his White House."

Update: “Barack Obama always talks about being a “uniter” and doing away with partisan politics but Granite Staters know this simply doesn’t pass the smell test and that Obama has voted with his own party 97% of his time in the Senate," New Hampshire Republican Chairman Fergus Cullen said in a statement. "It speaks volumes that Obama cannot name even a single instance when he took on his own party."