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McCain, Palin seek to dent Obama's armor
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-29 16:21 FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina -- Republican presidential nominee John McCain said on Tuesday he sensed momentum behind him despite a daunting electoral picture in which Democrat Barack Obama holds a steady lead a week before Election Day. Hoping to dent Obama's armor, McCain and his No. 2 Sarah Palin ramped up criticism of Obama's tax plan and the McCain campaign released a television ad that tried to raise voter doubts about Obama by pointing out that he said last May he did not believe Iran posed a serious threat. McCain told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity that he felt growing enthusiasm that reminds him of his comeback victory in the Republican primary, "where we were running behind and we sensed this momentum building."
"I am convinced that seven days from now we will win in North Carolina," McCain told a crowded rally in Fayetteville, where US military families and veterans have a strong presence. McCain is in a neck-and-neck battle with Obama in the normally Republican state of North Carolina, emblematic of a gloomy outlook for Republicans in this year of financial turmoil. Obama, feeling the heat from McCain's accusations that he wants to redistribute Americans' wealth, took the Arizona senator head on at an event in Chester, Pennsylvania. OBAMA LEADING IN POLLS He said McCain's proposals to extend tax cuts would worsen the country's budget picture, and again sought to tie McCain to the policies of unpopular President George W. Bush. "John McCain has ridden shotgun as George Bush has driven our economy toward a cliff, and now he wants to take the wheel and step on the gas," Obama said. Americans on November 4 will vote in what amounts to 50 state-by-state elections. Each state has a certain number of electoral votes based on the size of its population. Whichever candidate gets 270 electoral votes wins the White House.
If current polling is accurate and stands up on Election Day, Obama could well win by a large margin. Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 45 percent among likely voters in a three-day national tracking poll by Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby, a slight dip from his 5-point advantage on Monday. McCain solidified his support among white and male voters but Obama retained double-digit leads among women and independent voters -- two key swing blocs. Amid news reports of some strains between the McCain and Palin camps, McCain said he could not be more pleased with the enthusiasm his vice presidential running mate has generated. "By the way, when two mavericks join up they don't always agree on everything, but that's a lot of fun," he told a jammed, noisy rally in rain-soaked Hershey, Pennsylvania. Palin told CNBC in a joint interview with McCain that "the partnership is very good." Various news reports over the past week quoting anonymous sources have said Palin insiders felt she was too heavily controlled by the McCain side while the McCain camp sometimes thought she was not a team player. BATTLE FOR PENNSYLVANIA McCain and Obama tangled earlier in Pennsylvania, a state where Obama holds a comfortable lead but where McCain hopes to score an upset by appealing to white middle-class voters who voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton over Obama in their primary battle earlier this year. "It's wonderful to fool the pundits, because we're going to win the state of Pennsylvania," McCain said. In Chester, a city in the Philadelphia suburbs, about 9,000 people braved cold rain and mud to hear Obama speak at Widener University. "The fact that all of you are here today shows how badly you want change, shows how committed you are," Obama said. "We want change, we want change," the audience chanted. "If all of you go out on Election Day, if all of you get your friends and your neighbors, your co-workers, if all of you are determined to bring about a better America, then I promise you this: we will not just win Pennsylvania, we will win this general election and you and I together, we're going to change this country and we're going to change the world," he said. As they have for days, McCain and Palin hammered Obama for telling Ohio's Joe Wurzelbacher -- "Joe the Plumber" -- two weeks ago that he wanted to raise taxes on people making more than $250,000 in order to "spread the wealth around." Palin, who has generated energy among the Republican base but has been unable to extend her reach beyond that core group, drew roars when she hit Obama on the issue. "It doesn't sound like too many of you are supporting Barack the Wealth Spreader," she said. Obama is to launch an unprecedented television blitz on Wednesday to push his economic message on US networks ranging from CBS and NBC to Comedy Central. Obama's television campaign will also force a 15-minute delay in the FOX network's broadcast of the fifth game of the US baseball World Series -- the fanatically followed championship of an iconic American sport. |
