In a Red State, Obama Tackles Issues of National Security
The Washington Post | July 17, 2008
By Perry Bacon Jr.
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.
