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McCain, Obama campaign in New Mexico, Nevada

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

October 26, 2008

ALBUQUERQUE - John McCain and Barack Obama's presidential duel moved west yesterday as the candidates held rallies in New Mexico and Nevada, key contests in the final 10 days of the race.

Fewer than 1,000 supporters came out to cheer McCain in a morning rally under crisp blue skies at the State Fair Grounds in Albuquerque. Making his sixth visit to New Mexico, the senator from neighboring Arizona touted his understanding of regional concerns, including water rights.

"My friends, Senator Obama ... doesn't know these issues. I know them ... I'm proud to be a senator from the West."

McCain trails Obama in New Mexico by eight percentage points in an average of recent polls, according to realclearpolitics.com. Early voting began statewide Oct. 18. McCain did not mention that at his rally. Obama's campaign says Democrats have cast half of all early and absentee votes in New Mexico so far, with Republicans and independents splitting the rest.

The Democratic nominee rejoined the campaign trail yesterday after taking a break to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii. Speaking to more than 11,000 supporters at the University of Nevada, Reno, Obama sharpened criticism of McCain - comparing him to President George W. Bush nearly two dozen times.

"John McCain is so opposed to George Bush's policies that he voted with him 90 percent of the time for the first eight years. That's right, he decided to really stick it to George Bush - 10 percent of the time.

"John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy ... It's like Tonto getting mad at the Lone Ranger."

Obama spent most of the day in Nevada, which has five electoral votes. His campaign is aggressively courting early voters, and more than 200,000 Nevadans have cast their ballots so far. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton held an afternoon rally for him in Sunland Park, N.M., while McCain was to appear in the nearby town of Mesilla.

As elsewhere, Obama has outspent McCain in New Mexico. His TV ads seem to blanket local airwaves and Obama's campaign is running 39 offices - nearly four times as many as McCain and the state GOP.

New Mexico has swung both ways in recent elections, and its five electoral votes are a prime target for the campaigns this year. In 2004, Bush beat Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry by about 6,000 votes across the state. Four years earlier, Bush lost the state by just 366 votes to Al Gore.

Insisting Obama will impose a "massive new tax increase" - a charge Obama denies - McCain warned Democrats will "lower our defenses and raise our taxes. I want to raise our defense and lower our taxes."

McCain also warned if Obama is elected, he will be "tested" by America's enemies abroad and be found wanting. Unlike Obama, McCain said, he is prepared to push back. "I have been tested, and I will test them."

McCain also pushed a theme aides believe appeals to independents and other voters: that electing him helps prevent one-party control of the White House and Congress. He uses the issue to aggregate his broader attack on Obama and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill. "Senator Obama is measuring the drapes and is planning with [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid to increase spending, raise taxes and concede defeat in Iraq," he said.

ROAD TRIPS

BARACK OBAMA

Today: Fort Collins, Colo., rally followed by event in Denver.

Tomorrow: Pittsburgh rally followed by event in Canton, Ohio.

Tuesday: No details available

Wednesday: With Bill Clinton in Orlando, Fla.

JOHN MCCAIN

Today: Cedar Falls, Iowa campaign stop - his fourth campaign visit to Iowa in five weeks - followed by events in Zanesville and Lancaster, Ohio.

Tomorrow: Kettering, Ohio, rally followed by a Pottsville, Pa., rally.

Tuesday: Rallies in Hershey and Quakerville, Pa., with Gov. Sarah Palin, then on to Fayetteville, N.C.