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Intensity grows as presidential election looms

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-30 16:25

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Fresh off a day defined by flash and cash, Barack Obama is targeting the tight states of Florida, Virginia and Missouri. A resilient John McCain aptly picks up his campaign in the Ohio town of Defiance, battling long odds to victory.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, shakes hands with former President Bill Clinton after addressing supporters at a rally in Kissimmee, Fla., Wednesday, October 29, 2008. [Agencies]

With five days until the election, the presidential race is picking up pace.

Obama, the Democratic Illinois senator, holds the leads in polls nationally and in most of the states still in competition. McCain, a Republican Arizona senator, has tried to erode Obama's lead by raising doubts about his tax plan and his ability to protect the nation.

Related readings:  Obama goes prime-time; McCain goes after Obama  Obama and Clinton compaign together for the first time

Both candidates keep hitting the same states that could decide the election. The majority of states already tilt to one candidate and aren't getting showered with any attention.

Obama starts Wednesday in Florida, shifts north to Virginia and ends his day in Missouri. McCain plans to campaign all day in Ohio, which tipped the 2004 election for President Bush.

Campaigns are famous for tightening and getting even more unpredictable at the end. McCain and running mate Sarah Palin say they will surprise election predictors with a win.

Obama tried to lock up undecideds Wednesday with a prime-time informercial that seamlessly cut to some live comments he was making in Florida. The air time cost $4 million.

For a capper, Obama got a big boost late in the evening from Bill Clinton. Pushing aside hard feelings over Obama's winning primary campaign against his wife, the former president got on stage with Obama for the first time and called him the future of the country.

McCain, in Florida, argued that Obama lacks "what it takes to protect America from terrorists" as he sought to shift attention away from the economy.

Polls taken within the past several days showed Obama ahead in four states that supported Bush in 2004, and essentially even with McCain in two others. A separate survey suggested even McCain's home state of Arizona was not safely in his column.

The campaigns will make a mad dash until Tuesday.

But in a telling comment in describing his 30-minute television ad, Obama said Wednesday: "At this stage, everything that needs to be said has probably been heard by a lot of voters. And what you want to do is just remind them one more time, 'Here's what I'm going to do.'"