McCain returns to N.H.; Obama talks foreign policy in Va.
— -- John McCain, trailing by double-digits in several national presidential polls, stumped in New Hampshire Wednesday, looking once again for the Granite State to deliver him a come-from-behind victory.
In January, McCain's flagging campaign was reignited by a first-place finish that put him on the road to the Republican nomination.
On Wednesday, McCain cast himself as the underdog at a campaign stop in Goffstown, N.H., as national polls showed the Republican candidate trailing his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, by 6 to 12 points.
"It doesn't matter what the pundits think or how confident my opponent is, the people of New Hampshire make their own decision," he told a cheering crowd. "And more than once they have ignored the polls and pundits and brought me across the finish line first."
Although recent polls have also shown the Arizona senator lagging as much as 7 points behind in New Hampshire, his campaign denied speculation that he may have to pull out to put his resources into other battleground states.
Senior adviser Mark Salter said Tuesday that McCain was visiting New Hampshire because "we get a charge out of it. We think we're competitive there. They get it."
Obama, for his part, was campaigning Wednesday in the traditional Republican stronghold of Virginia, with stops in Richmond, and later in Leesburg, in northern Virginia.
While in the Virginia capital, the Illinois senator and running mate Joe Biden were scheduled to meet with a group of national security advisers to the campaign. Obama also planned to speak publicly after the discussion about his approach to world affairs, and how it differs from McCain's.
McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was campaigning in Ohio and planned to join the Arizona senator in the evening in Cincinnati.
In other developments:
•The McCain campaign said thousands of dollars worth of clothing purchased by the Republican Party for Palin will go to a "charitable purpose" after the campaign.
The Republican National Committee spent about $150,000 on clothing, hair styling, makeup and other "campaign accessories" in September for the McCain campaign after Palin, the governor of Alaska, joined the ticket.
Related Stories
ABC News Live