Barack Obama, John McCain target states once carried by George Bush
Obama has a Florida campaign stop with Hillary Clinton, while McCain tries to distance himself from the unpopular president in Missouri.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- Two days after Democrat Barack Obama drew an estimated 100,000 supporters to a sun-dappled rally in downtown St. Louis, John McCain attracted about 2,500 people to an open-air amphitheater in this nearby suburb, a sign of the Republican's mounting troubles in a state that is critical to his White House bid.
Both presidential campaigns are targeting battleground states once carried by George W. Bush.
Obama is campaigning in Florida, where early voting begins today. He has an afternoon rally in Tampa and an evening appearance with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at his side in Orlando. It is their first joint appearance since July.
In an interview broadcast this morning on NBC's "Today," Obama said that retired Gen. Colin Powell would have a role in his administration. One day after Powell, former secretary of state in the Bush administration, endorsed Obama, the Illinois senator said he "will have a role as one of my advisors. Whether he wants to take a formal role, whether that's a good fit for him, is something we'd have to discuss."
National polls give Obama a lead, 48.4% to 44%, according to realclearpolitics.com. With many in the media predicting an uphill struggle for the Republican, the 71-year-old McCain castigated the press, saying the national media "has written us off, as they have several times in the past."
To chants from the crowd of "John McCain, John McCain," the Arizona senator sought to separate himself from an unpopular President Bush.
"I'm not George Bush," he said, promising to "take the country in a new direction" and offer plans to protect homeowners from foreclosure and retirees from tax increases.
"I've been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old and I have the scars to prove it," he said. Vowing to "shake up Washington and take the country in a new direction," McCain argued that the media "forgot to let you decide."
"Don't give up hope," he said. "Stand up and fight. America is worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable."
bob.drogin@latimes.com
mark.barabak@latimes.com
Drogin reported from Missouri, Barabak from Florida. Times Staff Writer Johanna Neuman contributed to this story.
