McCain insists he can catch Obama

Reporting from Ohio And Pennsylvania — Republican John McCain, heading into the final weekend before the election, is on a four-day blitz he hopes will defy polls that show him trailing rival Democrat Barack Obama by six points nationally.

"We're a few points down but we're coming back and we're coming back strong," he said at a rally this morning in Ohio. "We're closing, my friends, and we're gonna win in Ohio."

The Obama campaign, flush with resources, continued to expand its reach across the political map, announcing plans to launch TV ads in Georgia, North Dakota and McCain's home state of Arizona.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call this morning, Obama's campaign chief, David Plouffe, said the campaign had sizable organizations in each state -- with nearly 5,000 "neighborhood captains" in Georgia, for instance -- and saw an opportunity, albeit narrow, to prevail on Tuesday.

"We're just going to give it a little go . . . and see how close we can get it," Plouffe said, citing positive signs in early voter turnout.

McCain plans a marathon of campaigning in the remaining days before voters go to the polls Tuesday. Aides said he is likely to visit as many as eight states on Monday. His campaign also announced today that the Arizona senator will make one more attempt to show voters his funny side with an appearance Saturday on "Saturday Night Live."

Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," McCain charged that Obama's "economic policy is from the far left of American politics, and ours is in the center." And he insisted the race is tightening. According to realclearpolitics.com, McCain is trailing Obama nationally by an average of 6 points. The latest CNN/Time poll shows McCain trailing Obama in Ohio by 5 percentage points.

But the Arizona senator, whose campaign was written off by commentators after a staff shake-up last year, said, "I've been in a lot of campaigns and the enthusiasm level is incredibly high, it's higher than I've ever seen it in any of my campaigns. I'm confident we'll win."

The Obama campaign rolled out its new star today. With former President Bill Clinton stumping zealously in Florida this week, former Vice President Al Gore joined the fray today in Palm Beach. In a rare campaign appearance, Gore is speaking in the battleground state of Florida -- the first time he has campaigned there since his disputed loss to George W. Bush in Florida in 2000 by 537 votes.