McCain, Obama compete for Pa. votes
WASHINGTON -- Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain campaigned in voter-rich Pennsylvania Tuesday as they begin focusing on an increasingly narrow group of states in the last week of the campaign.
Obama, who is leading in national polls, spoke to a shivering crowd of several thousand people in a cold, steady rain in Chester, Pa., a pivotal swing area of the state.
"I just want all of you to know that if we see this kind of dedication on Election Day, there is no way that we're not going to bring change to America," the Illinois senator said.
Obama, like McCain, put the economy front and center, criticizing the Arizona senator's championing of tax cuts corporations and the wealthy.
"John McCain has been riding shotgun as George Bush has driven our economy toward the cliff," he said. "And now he wants to take the wheel and step on the gas."
In Hershey, Pa., McCain, joined by his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, hammered at Obama for what he said was the Democrat's tax policies to "spread the wealth" that smacked of socialism.
"Senator Obama is running to be Redistributionist-in-Chief. I'm running to be Commander-in-Chief," McCain told a cheering crowd. "Senator Obama is running to spread the wealth. I'm running to create more wealth. Senator Obama is running to punish the successful. I'm running to make everyone successful."
The Republican candidate said he believes that Pennsylvania voters will defy pundits who, he said, have already handed the election to Obama.
"You've got independence, and you've got judgment and that's why we're going to win this election on Nov. 4, he said.
Pennsylvania is the only traditionally Democratic battleground state into which McCain is pouring major resources in the last seven days of the campaign.
Instead, McCain is increasingly focused on defending traditionally Republican states like Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Indiana that President Bush won in 2004.
After his swing through Pennsylvania, McCain was heading to Fayetteville, N.C.
Obama was planned to stump in Virginia, including a stop in Norfolk, Va., a major military community. This will be Obama's ninth trip to Virginia since he clinched the Democratic Party's nomination in June.
Obama also scheduled campaign stops in Florida on Wednesday, where he will be joined by former President Bill Clinton in their first joint appearance since the Democratic convention.
In other developments:
• McCain called Tuesday for Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens to step down in the aftermath of his felony convictions in a federal corruption case, saying the longtime Republican "has broken his trust with the people."
• In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, McCain called Obama an "untested individual" "This is an inexperienced person who so far has exercised bad judgment about national security," he said
•Michelle Obama, the candidate's wife, made passing reference to the flap over the cost of Palin's wardrobe when she told Jay Leno on the Tonight Show that while she and her husband spend their own money on their clothes she has some empathy with the Republican vice presidential nominee.
"A VP pick, it's like being shot out of a cannon," she said. "All of a sudden you're at the center of attention, and you want to look good."
•In an interview with WFTV in Orlando, McCain dismissed reports of friction with his running mate.
"That's pure bologna. We get along fine," he said. "There's always some in-fighting among staffs that goes on. A couple of mavericks aren't always going to agree on every issue."
•Sen. Joe Biden, of Delaware, Obama's running mate, stumped in Florida on Tuesday.
Contributing: David Jackson, in Hershey, Pa.; Douglas Stanglin in McLean, Va.; the Associated Press