McCain and Obama supporters gathered side by side around the Sheraton Grand Hotel Monday morning – to the point that you couldn’t really tell who the cars driving by were honking for.

Sacramento resident Diana Brace, who held a McCain-Romney ’08 sign, said she’s worried about Barack Obama’s tax policies.
 
Brace: “I think that’ll just tank the whole economy, whatever we have left.” 
 
But local teacher Pennie Taylor called McCain divisive.
 
Taylor: “I see McCain as a Republican who supports more of the same.” 
 
Donors paid at least a thousand dollars for lunch and heard McCain speak for nearly half an hour.  According to a pool report, the Arizona Senator said, quote: “We will compete and win in the state of California. We will not take your money and leave.”  That’s despite polls that show Obama with a healthy double digit lead here.
 
McCain later moved on to an evening fundraiser in Beverly Hills.  He’s got another one planned for Tuesday evening in San Diego.

Mixed Reaction in Crowd

To Elk Grove resident Norm DeYoung, there’s a lot that he likes about McCain: 
 
DeYoung: “Experience, judgment, maturity; his capacity to deal with foreign policy from a mature standpoint; and he’s a red-blooded American combat veteran.” 
 
But Jack Tracey of Roseville, who wore a “Veterans for Peace” shirt, says he worries about McCain’s temperament and ability to lead. 
 
Tracey: “I think particularly in the last four years, he’s been more and more supportive of the Bush administration.  He’s also been very much anti-veteran, in spite of being a veteran himself.