Obama hits on economy; McCain on earmarks

— -- John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin campaigned Monday in a Republican-leaning part of Missouri, where the GOP ticket needs to do well to counteract Democrat Barack Obama's anticipated urban voting strength.

Obama, meanwhile, focused on the economy in two Michigan stops. It was his third Michigan visit in nine days.

"This state (Missouri), we must win, and we will win," McCain said at the Pavilion in John Knox Village, a retirement community in Lee's Summit. The event outside of Kansas City drew 3,000 people inside and a roughly equal number listened over speakers outside.

President Bush polled 3 percentage points higher in the areas around Lee's Summit than he did in the rest of Missouri, which he won in 2000 and 2004.

Obama also campaigned in Kansas City last month. Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Obama's running mate, is to emphasize economic issues today while campaigning in St. Louis and Columbia, Mo. He spoke on those issues Monday in Green Bay, Wis., and Des Moines.

Missouri has long been a bellwether in presidential elections, voting for every winner since 1956. State polls show McCain leading Obama by an average of 7 percentage points, according to the website RealClearPolitics.com.

McCain and Palin on Monday played up their opposition to federal spending specially directed by lawmakers, known as earmarks, while accusing Obama of supporting nearly $1 billion in earmarks for Illinois while a U.S. senator.

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Obama hasn't asked for any earmarks this year. Last year, his campaign said he sought $311 million in earmarks.

"I will veto every pork-barrel, earmark spending bill that comes across my desk," McCain said. "We will stop it, my friends, because it breeds corruption."

While McCain has long opposed earmarked spending in Washington, Palin asked for about $198 million of it for fiscal 2009, according to the request she sent to Alaska's congressional delegation. "The total number of requests has been reduced significantly from previous years," she said.