Happy warrior: McCain rolls through Ohio

by Jill Zuckman

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Upbeat and on the offense, John McCain accused rival Barack Obama Friday of a Halloween trick to tax people's retirement contributions as he toured the back roads of small town Ohio for a second day.

McCain brought a little extra star power along with him, showing off Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star and governor of California, in the state capital, and Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, in Hanoverton

Campaign officials insisted they have just had their best 10 days of polling since the convention, boasted of a voter contact operation that would dwarf President Bush's from 2004, and promised a final 24-hour burst of campaigning in seven cities in seven states leading up to Election Day.

"We're jazzed up by the movement," said campaign manager Rick Davis. "And we are witnessing, I believe, probably one of the greatest comebacks that you've seen since John McCain won the primary."

Since the convention, the campaign and the Republican National Committee has spent $325 million - the most ever spent by the GOP in a two-month period in history. Davis expects to outspend Obama on television by $10 million in the last 10 days of the race. And in the last week alone, Republicans say they have contacted 5.3 million voters and expect to reach 17 million more in the next four days.

At United High School in Hanoverton, where the boisterous crowd could not fit into the gymnasium, McCain said the Democrats who control Congress are planning to tax 401k contributions, which need to be "protected, not endangered."

"Here's what's going on, it's Halloween. So what do the Democrats do? Every four years, they run out and they try to scare seniors by saying the Republicans are going to take away their Social Security or we're going to take away Medicare," McCain said.

"They do it every four years," he continued. "My friends, our Americans have wised up. I'm going to protect Social Security, I'm going to protect Medicare and I'm not going to let this Congress tax away your retirement savings."

McCain also accused Obama of presumptuously banking on the presidency to be handed to him, rather than working for it up until Election Day.

"He's measuring the drapes. And as you notice, the night before last, he gave his first address to nation before the election, and this week, he's settled on a chief of staff," said McCain. "We're a few points down but we're coming back and we're coming back strong."

Giuliani cast McCain as a candidate who cares: "He is going to fight for you to make sure your taxes are low and that our economy recovers because John McCain cares about you, John McCain has fought for you all his life, John McCain is one of you and when you have him in the White House, he will be worried about you and concerned about you."

McCain, however, was loose and joking Friday, reprising some of his old one-liners that have been in mothballs for several months. In Steubenville, on the steps of the Jefferson County Courthouse, McCain laughed as he read out the signs for "Eric the lawyer," "Doug the undertaker," and "Juka the nurse" - a play on his newest friend and campaign prop "Joe the plumber."

As he touted the virtues of nuclear power, long embraced by the French, McCain dryly noted: "We always want to imitate the French," adding that this is the first time there is a pro-American president of France. "Which just proves that if you live long enough, anything can happen," McCain said.