U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is reaching for votes in conservative states on Saturday while rival John McCain is trying to hold on to traditionally Republican strongholds.
The Republican candidate is campaigning in (the southern states of) North Carolina and Virginia, where the latest polls show Obama has taken the lead.
McCain today again distanced himself from the unpopular Republican U.S.
president, George Bush. The Arizona senator vowed to move the country
in a new direction.
Senator Obama of Illinois is in (the midwestern state of) Missouri, a hotly-contested state where the latest polls show Obama has moved slightly ahead of the Arizona senator.
Obama told voters McCain supports Bush administration policies that helped plunge the country into financial turmoil.
Polls show the U.S. economic crisis has helped Obama pull ahead of
McCain. The latest national polls show Obama with an overall lead of
six percentage points.
Obama warned supporters not to take winning for granted and urged them to keep fighting for every vote.
Senator McCain today (Saturday) urged supporters not to lose hope and to never quit.