McCain continues uphill struggle against Obama

Republican John McCain headed for must-win Ohio today with just five days to overcome Barack Obama.

Mr McCain said the race grows tighter each day, but he faces long odds against Mr Obama’s well-oiled campaign machine. According to most state polls, Mr Obama has surged past the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House.

And not since Ross Perot’s third-party candidacy 16 years ago has a candidate had the money to finance the kind of nationally broadcast and lengthy message Mr Obama put on American airwaves in prime television time last night.

Mr McCain, a veteran senator who stumbled badly in the early days of America’s historic economic unravelling and has been unable to shake perceived ties to unpopular President George Bush, derided the event as a “gauzy, feel-good commercial,” paid for with broken promises.

He appeared as a guest on CNN’s “Larry King Live” after claiming earlier that Mr Obama lacked “what it takes to protect America from terrorists.”

In Mr Obama’s broadcast, the candidate was shown addressing large crowds on issues including health care, education and jobs, interspersed with the story of struggling American families, and interviews with Mr Obama’s family and colleagues.

Mr Obama talked about how his mother died young of cancer. “I know what it’s like to see a loved one suffer, not just because they are sick, but because of a broken health care system.”

He also pledged to protect the US while seeking to wind down the war in Iraq.

“I will not be a perfect president,” Mr Obama said. “But I can promise you this – I will always tell you what I think and where I stand.”

As the commercial ended, it cut to live shots of an Mr Obama rally in Florida, where the candidate was shown with his running mate, vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Mr McCain dismissed the Obama broadcast as a “TV special”.

“As with other infomercials, he’s got something to sell you,” Mr McCain said. “He’s offering you government-run health care.”

After Mr Obama’s broadcast, the candidate made his first joint campaign appearance with former President Bill Clinton, a fellow Democrat.

At the rally in Kissimmee, Florida, Clinton declared: “Folks, we can’t fool with this. Our country is hanging in the balance. And we have so much promise and so much peril. This man should be our president.”

“Barack Obama represents America’s future, and you’ve got to be there for him next Tuesday,” Mr Clinton said to the cheers of a partisan crowd.

The broadcasts lighted television screens shortly after a new Associated Press-Gfk poll showed Mr Obama well positioned to dominate the state-by-state races that will decide the presidency.

Signalling the huge negative effect Mr Bush has on the Republican campaign, Sarah Palin, Mr McCain’s vice-presidential candidate, called for a “clean break” from the administration’s energy policies, which she said relied too much on imported oil.

Mrs Palin also suggested that she will not disappear from the national political scene if she and Mr McCain lose on Tuesday.

“Absolutely not. ... I’m not doing this for nought,” she said in an interview with ABC News.

While Mr Obama leads in just about every national poll, Mr McCain aides insist the a four-term Arizona senator is still within reach of victory according to their internal surveys.

A reversal of fortune cannot be ruled out for the Republican. The mood of the electorate has shifted radically in the course of the campaign.

Mr McCain was written off by experts early in the campaign last year, and Mr Obama seemed poised for victory in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary just before Hillary Clinton charged to victory there.

Moreover, although it is late in the campaign, polls show there are many undecided voters.