Barack Obama was raised by a single mother who occasionally had to rely on food stamps to feed her family, the Illinois Senator and Democratic presidential candidate told a group of women yesterday.

Speaking at a roundtable in Walpole with eight working women, Obama said his mother was just 18 when she had him. After Obama's father left, his mother remarried for a time but mostly raised her two children alone, with help from Obama's grandparents.

"For most of my youth and childhood . . . my mother was working at the same time, she was going to school at the same time, she was trying to raise us," Obama said. "And it was tough. There were a couple of times when she had to go on food stamps. . . . She was constantly trying to patch things together - scholarships, loans, grants. It took her a long time to complete her education."

In an event that was as personal as it was political, Obama used the discussion at the factory of L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates to promote his plan for helping working families by portraying himself as a candidate who understands the challenges they face. The blueprint, which Obama announced last week in Iowa, tries to appeal to working, middle-class voters - a key constituency courted by Democratic candidates.

At the event, Obama outlined several major features of his plan - guaranteeing seven paid sick days a year for all employees, doubling the amount of money available for after-school programs and setting up a $1.5 billion fund to help states experiment with ways to provide paid leave. Obama said he would expand the Family Medical Leave Act to apply to companies with more than 25 employees, instead of those with more than 50. The Family Medical Leave Act requires employers to give unpaid leave to employees, such as new mothers or family caregivers. Obama said he would expand the act to cover elder care, school activities and the fallout from domestic violence. He would create a program to help businesses give their employees more flexible working schedules.

He praised Burdick's, whose employees comprised half of the roundtable participants, for its family-friendly policies. "When you create flex time, employers are happier, employees are happier, you have greater productivity," Obama said.

Obama also touted a tax plan that would give middle-class workers a $500 tax credit to offset payroll taxes, and he stressed his support for early childhood education. He also mentioned his plan for universal health care, which he says would cut health insurance costs by $2,500 a year for middle-class families by emphasizing preventive care and management of chronic diseases, investing in information technology and streamlining administrative costs.

"Part of the reason I got into public services was because I saw people's lives could be tough, and they often didn't have a lot of help," Obama said. "My mother's experience is duplicated all across the country each and every day."

In working families, Obama faces a constituency where two of his major opponents also seek significant support. Hillary Clinton, herself a working mother, previously worked for the Children's Defense Fund and started a family advocacy group in Arkansas. As first lady, she organized conferences at the White House on early childhood development and child care. As a U.S. senator, she has introduced several bills relating to child care.

"As a mother, a children and family advocate, and a U.S. senator, these are issues Sen. Clinton's been passionately fighting for long, long time," Clinton spokeswoman Kathleen Strand said.

Former senator John Edwards, who is expected to lay out his plan for the Family and Medical Leave Act today in New Hampshire, has emphasized his support for organized labor and has made strengthening the middle class a foundation of his platform. In March, he laid out an overall policy to strengthen the middle class, and specific platforms have included features such as tax breaks for working families and stronger labor laws, including universal paid sick leave. (next page »)