'Die-hards' want to set eyes on McCain

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Republican John McCain woke up Saturday in Charlotte. Two plane trips, two rallies in two states, eight TV interviews and hundreds of shaken hands later, he ended his more than 12-hour workday at a hotel here.

Along the way, the McCain campaign crossed paths with a young mom and her daughter; with two African-American voters with different views of Democrat Barack Obama, the first black presidential nominee of a major party; and with a college government major getting his first taste of the campaign trail.

Ohio volunteer Jim Samuel said the appearances by McCain are important for the GOP faithful like him who knock on doors, make phone calls and try to turn out the vote for Election Day.

"The die-hards," he said, "want to get out and see the candidate."

Morning in North Carolina

Around 7:30 a.m. ET, reporters and McCain aides drop off their bags in a third-floor room at the Marriott hotel in downtown Charlotte, in the heart of a state President Bush won easily in 2000 and 2004. Obama, however, is making a serious challenge in this red state. Upstairs, McCain studies briefing books and prepares for taped interviews with North Carolina TV outlets.

While McCain speaks to the local reporters, the traveling press bus rumbles toward the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center in Concord, near the state's famed NASCAR track. Inside a warehouse-like building, a bluegrass band entertains about 7,000 people.

On a set of bleachers, a man flings blue-and-white McCain signs Frisbee-style to the people below. One of the cardboard rectangles sails and hits 3-year-old Kaitlyn Hagler on the head.

"It's dangerous in here isn't it?" jokes the child's mother, Melissa Hagler, 24, from Salisbury. She holds the little girl wearing thick glasses because of a vision problem, as she explains her concerns about Obama. "I don't feel any straight answers are coming out of him," she says.

Hagler says she is leaning toward McCain, citing his experience and military service, with one reservation: "age." McCain is 72 years old; Obama is 47.