DaytonDailyNews.com

OWENSVILLE — With two days until Ohio and the nation vote for the next president, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin served up a little red meat for a crowd of thousands who jammed into the grandstand of the Clermont County Fairgrounds.

She accused Barack Obama of wanting to raise taxes for the middle class. She quoted U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to argue Obama and congressional Democrats would cut 25 percent of the defense budget if they had a monopoly on the federal government, and she argued that he wanted to bankrupt clean coal.

"John McCain and I want to work for you," she told a raucous crowd estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000. "Ohio, will you hire us?"

Accompanied by former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman and his wife Jane, her husband, Todd Palin, and country singer Gretchen Wilson, Palin threw verbal grenades at the Democratic ticket.

"Clermont County looks like McCain-Palin country tonight to me," Portman said.

Obama's campaign has already debunked the quote by Frank, saying if elected, they have no intention of cutting defense spending that dramatically. They acknowledge some savings from ending the war in Iraq, but said in the short term, they expect spending increases to pay for needed new equipment.

Still, Palin argued that McCain would make the country safer. "They can fill a stadium," she said. "But they cannot keep this country safe."

Palin also poked fun at Obama's tax plan, saying he has changed the threshold on who would see tax increases. Obama says he will not raise taxes for individuals making under $200,000 and families under $250,000.

"Voters in Ohio deserve more than this desperate and dishonest political attack," Tom Reynolds, an Obama spokesman said. "The truth is Sen. Obama wants to give tax breaks to 95 percent of workers and their families."