A final Mason Dixon poll on the 2008 Virginia vote found Mr Obama with 47 per cent support against Mr McCain's 44 per cent. The three-point spread is unchanged from three weeks ago. -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPRINGFIELD (Missouri) - WHITE House rivals Barack Obama and John McCain on Sunday hurled themselves into a Herculean final 48 hours of campaigning before their date with destiny in the US presidential election.
Mr Obama on Sunday was on a three-city tour of Ohio - a crucial state for both the front-running Democrat and his Republican opponent, after deciding the 2004 election in favor of President George W. Bush.
Obama camp ridicules McCain over Cheney
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's camp on Sunday ripped into John McCain after the Republican candidate won fulsome praise from unpopular Vice President Dick Cheney, who said he was 'delighted' to offer his support.
A new advertisement ahead of Tuesday's presidential election shackles Mr McCain to Mr Cheney and the unpopular legacy of President George W. Bush, and also questions the qualifications of his Republican running mate Sarah Palin.
WASHINGTON - JOHN McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis predicted the Republican would pull off a 'slam bang' comeback in Tuesday's election, despite polls which make Barack Obama the overwhelming favorite.
THE following are major policies toward Asia of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain, as published on campaign websites, party platforms and speeches:
Mr McCain, following his own two-day bus odyssey around the rust-belt state, was stepping up the pace with his first midnight rally of the campaign, in Florida, following events in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.
Entering the electrifying campaign's final weekend, Mr Obama on Saturday promised a 'new politics for a new time' and said he had a 'righteous wind' at his back as he pursues his quest to become the first black US president.
Basking in a hefty poll lead and the adoration of massive crowds, the 47-year-old Illinois senator is hammering Mr McCain over the US economic crisis and portraying his rival as a faithful sidekick of the deeply unpopular Mr Bush.
In its daily tracking survey on Saturday, Gallup had the Democrat gaining momentum and leading 52 per cent to 42 per cent. A Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll meanwhile put the figure at 53 per cent for Mr Obama and 44 per cent for Mr McCain.
Mr McCain, in turn, is attacking his rival's patriotism as he vies to turn Tuesday's election into a referendum on Obama's readiness to serve as commander-in-chief as the US military wages two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'(Obama) said the other day that his primary victory 'vindicated' his faith in America,' said the Arizona senator, 72, highlighting a formulation used by the Democrat in his speeches for many months now.
'My country has never had to prove anything to me, my friends. I've always had faith in it and I've been humbled and honored to serve it,' said Mr McCain, a former navy pilot who was imprisoned for five years during the Vietnam War.
The presidential campaign has narrowed down to states that have been reliably Republican in recent elections, or in the case of Virginia, Indiana and North Carolina, that have not voted for a Democratic hopeful in decades.
Flush with a record-breaking fundraising operation, Mr Obama is on the offensive all across the map. He campaigned on Saturday in Nevada, Colorado and Missouri as he bid to lock down Republican states in the west and midwest.
Mr McCain hit the trail in Virginia and Pennsylvania - probably his only hope of prising a Democratic state away from Obama - before traveling to New York for an assured cameo on the iconic TV comedy show 'Saturday Night Live'.
A final Mason Dixon poll on the 2008 Virginia vote found Mr Obama with 47 per cent support against Mr McCain's 44 per cent. The three-point spread is unchanged from three weeks ago.
New Hampshire took Mr McCain to its heart when he ran for the Republican nomination against Mr Bush in 2000. But Mr Obama leads there, as well as in Pennsylvania.
Mr Obama had his own star power in the works with rocker Bruce Springsteen due to perform at one of his three rallies in Ohio, in front of what aides predicted would be a monster crowd in Cleveland early Sunday evening.
Mr Obama derided Mr McCain after Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday hailed the Arizona senator as the right man to lead the country because he 'understands the danger facing America'.
'(Cheney) knows that with John McCain you get a twofer: George Bush's economic policies and Dick Cheney's foreign policies,' the Democrat said.
Mr McCain meanwhile said Mr Obama was the wrong choice for a dangerous world where 'millions of lives' were at stake, hoping his closing message will sow enough doubt to make voters overlook their stated preference for Obama on the economy.
The Republican was to wrap up his campaign with a multi-state, whistlestop tour on Monday.
For his own campaign climax on Monday, Mr Obama was heading on a battleground blitz of Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. He was then to return to Chicago, to see if his unlikely bet with the American people has paid off. -- AFP
