McCain runs marathon through seven battleground states

INDIANAPOLIS -- On the eve of Election Day, Republican John McCain was at times defiant, pleading and humorous as he made a final seven-state campaign swing looking for presidential votes.

Starting early Monday in the shadow of a football stadium in Tampa and looking to end his day on the courthouse steps in Prescott, Ariz., McCain told supporters that he needed every vote in an uphill fight against Democrat Barack Obama.

"Indiana is now a battleground state," McCain declared at an airport in this traditionally Republican state where Obama is making a major push. "But it's a battle that we're going to win."

The Indiana stop came midway through a marathon that also covered Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Nevada, as well as his home state of Arizona. He and Obama also were scheduled to make halftime appearances on the Monday Night Football broadcast.

Trailing in most national polls, McCain changed course and planned a final Election Day campaign push. He was heading Tuesday to Colorado and New Mexico, two states that President Bush carried in 2004 and Obama has fought hard to win.

Running mate Sarah Palin made a separate trek through five battleground states that Bush carried: Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada. She was heading home to Alaska to vote before rejoining McCain in Phoenix on Tuesday night.

"We need a president who has actually fought for change and made it happen," McCain said at another rally near Pittsburgh. Palin was direct, telling an Ohio crowd that "now is not the time to experiment with socialism."

At an airplane hangar in Tennessee, within minutes of the Virginia border, McCain appealed to some 2,000 supporters, "I need your vote."

Throughout Monday, McCain delivered what has become his standard set of messages: That Obama and a Democratic Congress will raise taxes and expand government, and that Obama is inexperienced.

"Tax and spend, tax and spend," McCain said in Tennessee. "That's what they're all about, my friends."

The GOP nominee's trip was calculated with TV markets in mind: The airport rally in Blountville, Tenn., looped in coverage from neighboring Virginia and North Carolina — two traditionally Republican states where Obama is competitive.