Obama, McCain Race to the Finish Line

McCain's Last Shot

McCain may be down in the polls, but neither his aggressive schedule nor the tone of his stump speeches admits any hint of defeat.

At a Saturday morning rally in Newport News, Va., where the latest CNN-Time poll has Obama ahead 53-44, McCain predicted a win, telling voters that the polls were swinging in his favor.

"We've been a couple points down but we're comin' back and we're comin' back in Virginia!" McCain said.

At times, he changed his language from "If I'm elected" to "When I'm elected," to the applauding crowd's evident pleasure.

McCain continued to hammer at the theme of his being a fighter with a track record, a resonant message in a state where a high percentage of the population has military ties.

"I've been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old and I have the scars to prove it," McCain told Virginia voters in one of his enduring stump lines. "I will never let our vets down and I will provide them with what they need. I'm going to fight to shake up Washington – my first day in Washington to my last. I'm not afraid of the fight, I'm ready for the fight."

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McCain attacked Obama's record on tax policy and said electing the Democrat would threaten what he called a two-party balance of power in government, making reference to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"Obama voted 95 percent of the time to increase taxes," McCain claimed. "We are getting a glimpse of what an Obama, Pelosi, Reid government would look like … Apparently it begins with lowering our defense and raising our taxes."

McCain will cap off the weekend in New Hampshire. While Obama is polling ahead in the Granite State, it delivered McCain victories in both 2000 and 2008 primaries.

Obama: 'We Have to Go Ahead and Bring It Home'

On Friday night, Obama returned to the state where he launched a candidacy that was seen in some quarters at the time as quixotic. He expressed gratitude to a crowd of 25,000 in Des Moines.

"On the day of the Iowa Caucus, my faith in the American people was vindicated. And what you started here in Iowa has swept the nation," Obama said.

Obama accused McCain of abandoning the integrity of his 2000 campaign and resorting to "slash-and-burn politics" in a desperate attempt at victory.