“John McCain has served his country longer in a POW camp than his opponent has in the United States Senate,” the Austrian-born politician said. “I only play an action hero in the movies. John McCain is a real action hero.”
McCain’s campaign said the candidate would appear Saturday on the late-night comedy show, Saturday Night Live.
The satirical program has bolstered its ratings in recent months by lampooning McCain’s choice for the Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who is bidding to become America’s first woman vice president.
Both McCain and Obama are expected to appear at half time on a nationally televised American football game Monday night.
But nationwide appeals may matter less, in the end, then the grueling chess game of state-by-state campaigning that marks US presidential contests.
Under the US system, the president is not elected by direct popular vote nationwide. Instead, the successful candidate must win 270 out of 538 electoral votes in what amounts to a state-by-state contest. Electoral votes are allocated to each state roughly according to population.
McCain has won come-from-behind political contests before. But his campaign has struggled throughout the fall, plagued by internal bickering and divisions in the party ranks.
In an interview on Thursday with National Public Radio, Lawrence Eagleburger, a former secretary of state and prominent McCain supporter, who said Palin isn’t prepared to take over as president in a crisis.
He added that she could eventually become “adequate.” He later apologized for the comments.
Palin campaigned on Friday in Pennsylvania, where she charged that Obama represented the “far left wing” of the Democratic party and had an ideological commitment to raising taxes.
Obama is proposing tax increases on families making over US$250,000 and individuals making over US$200,000 and tax cuts for the 95 percent of workers making less than US$200,000.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden told a crowd in Delaware that history will judge the Bush administration harshly for failing to build a strong economy and to unite the world against global terrorism.
“The Bush legacy, the one that John McCain wants to continue, is an America where we are divided from each other, a nation divided from the world,” Biden said.
Obama planned final get-out-the-vote rallies in Nevada, Colorado and Missouri for yesterday. He was scheduled to campaign in Ohio all day today, including a Cleveland rally with singer Bruce Springsteen, then hit Virginia and Florida on Election Eve.
McCain had eight states on his final three-day itinerary besides the detour to New York City for Saturday Night Live, hosted by Obama supporter Ben Affleck. Monday’s schedule called for him to visit several states, ending with a midnight rally in his home state of Arizona where Obama was running TV ads.
“We want to win everywhere,” Obama said of his decision to air the commercials in his opponent’s state.
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