LAS VEGAS -- Sen. Barack Obama is hoping the housing mess can help sway the November election. The Democratic front-runner pitched his plans to stem the crisis during a visit on Tuesday to Nevada, the state with the highest rate of home foreclosures and a swing state that President Bush narrowly carried in 2000 and 2004.

Associated Press Sen. Barack Obama talked with Francisco Cano, right, and Felicitas Rosel about the Nevada foreclosure crisis at their home in Las Vegas Tuesday.

Sen. Obama visited the pink and white one-story home of Felicitas Rosel and Francisco Cano. Ms. Rosel, a maid at the Bellagio hotel, and Mexico-born Mr. Cano, a porter at the Bellagio, bought their first house three years ago after saving for decades. They are now struggling to make payments on an adjustable-rate mortgage and risk losing their home.

"Look, this is a serious problem all across Las Vegas, all across Nevada and all across the nation," Sen. Obama told the couple as they sat around the kitchen table.

The mortgage crisis has played a central role in the presidential primary between Sen. Obama and his Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Both have laid out detailed plans to aid families facing foreclosures and criticized Arizona Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, for his view that the government shouldn't get too involved in the crisis.

DISCUSSION What will be the most important issue in the presidential election? Join a discussion.

Lately, however, the housing slump has taken a back seat to vigorous debates over foreign policy sparked by comments Sen. Obama has made about meeting with leaders of rogue nations.

Now, Sen. Obama is emphasizing his housing plans in Western swing states hit hard by the mortgage crisis. These states have mostly voted Republican in recent elections, but the Obama campaign is counting on victories there in November.

In 2000, President Bush defeated former Vice President Al Gore in Nevada by 3.6 percentage points. Four years later, he defeated Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in Nevada by 2.5 percentage points. Obama aides have said victory in the Western swing states such as Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado can help him counter challenges among white, working-class voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania. "We want to send a message now that we are going after them, and I expect to win them," Sen. Obama told reporters on Monday, when asked about Western swing states.

The housing crisis is a key issue in Nevada, where one out of every 146 households was in some stage of foreclosure in April, 3.6 times the national average and the highest foreclosure rate in the country for the 16th-consecutive month. Foreclosure filings in the state almost doubled from a year earlier to 7,276. Nearly 89% of foreclosures in Nevada occurred in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located.

Nationwide foreclosure filings climbed 65% and bank seizures more than doubled in April from the same month a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac Inc. On Tuesday, the Case-Shiller index reported that housing prices declined by a record 14.1% in the first quarter of 2008, compared with a year earlier.

At a roundtable discussion Tuesday afternoon at the College of Southern Nevada in North Las Vegas, Sen. Obama laid out his plan to provide a $30 billion economic-stimulus package to help homeowners. The package would include a $10 billion foreclosure-prevention fund to help people stay in their homes and $10 billion in relief to state and local governments hardest hit by foreclosure.

The Illinois senator also said he would modify bankruptcy law so families can negotiate the terms of their mortgage and would provide a 10% mortgage tax credit for middle-class Americans.

Sen. Obama used the event to attack his likely Republican rival, saying, "John McCain has struggled to come up with a real plan to address the housing crisis."

Sen. McCain called for aggressive federal intervention to stabilize the housing market in April, rejecting a largely hands-off approach he had outlined earlier. His plan doesn't go as far as Sen. Obama's but does include urging the federal government to guarantee new mortgages for at-risk homeowners and calls for $3 billion to $10 billion in federal assistance.

Sen. McCain hasn't backed legislation taking shape in Congress, steered by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), that would create a federally backed auction system for mortgages in default. Sen. Obama has said he strongly supports the plan.

Write to Amy Chozick at amy.chozick@wsj.com

Floor Rates for NCR Realty may Rise 30%

House Passes Homeowner Aid

Home Prices Continue to Decline