McCain trailing in Ohio despite backing from 'Joe the Plumber'

Washington, Oct 29 (PTI) Despite backing from 'Joe the
Plumber,' Republican Presidential nominee John McCain is
trailing behind his Democratic rival Barack Obama in Ohio, the
key battleground state that is crucial to keeping his White
House hopes alive.

The 71-year-old Arizona senator now trails Obama by 6
points in Ohio, 50 percent to 44 percent. That gap is two
points wider than it was Monday and double what it was one
week ago, according to CNN's latest poll of polls of the
state.

No Republican has won the presidency without carrying
Ohio, and barring a major upset in another big state, the
state's 20 electoral votes are a "must win" for McCain, it
said.

McCain is expected to spend two full days in Ohio later
this week. His tottering campaign is getting some help from
'Joe the Plumber,' who was thrust into the spotlight after
questioning Obama about his tax plans during electioneering.

Samuel Wurzelbacher, now better known as 'Joe the
Plumber' said, he took aim at Obama, who saying he wanted to
redistribute the wealth.

"We're not a socialist country. That bothers me. It
scares me. That's the reason why I came out here. I'm really
scared for our country," Wurzelbacher said.


"John McCain is spreading an important message for all
of us. For small businesses. That's really important," said
Wurzelbacher.

While McCain has never met Joe the Plumber, the two
have spoken. Asked whether the two will hit the campaign trail
together, campaign spokesman Paul Lindsay said Wurzelbacher
approached the campaign earlier this week offering to help,
and that they are is "open to whatever Joe is comfortable
doing."

Meanwhile, a new poll of polls in Florida also shows
that McCain trails Obama by 4 points in the state, 49 percent
to 45 percent. That gap is 3 points higher than it was
earlier Wednesday and is largely due to a newly released
survey from LA Times/Bloomberg showing McCain down 7 points in
the state.

Both presidential contenders are scheduled to visit
Florida Wednesday, looking to capture the state's 27 electoral
votes.

Florida's voters have already begun casting ballots.
The state's early voting period began on October 20 and runs
through November 2. As of Tuesday, about 1.2 million voters
cast ballots in person, CNN reported.

John McCain's campaign is banking its fortunes on a
come-from-behind win in Pennsylvania, but a new CNN poll of
polls of the Keystone state suggests the Arizona senator has
made little progress over Obama there over the last week.

According to a statistical average of several recent
Pennsylvania polls, Obama, who aspires to be the first black-
American president, holds a 10 point advantage over McCain,
52-42 percent. That's the same lead Obama held over McCain in
a poll of polls of the state last week.

With traditional red states such as Virginia and
Colorado looking increasingly out of reach for McCain, aides
to the Vietnam War veteran have all but said Pennsylvania's 21
electoral votes are a must-win to keep Republican hopes of a
White House win alive.

Both McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin have
held several campaign events in the state over the last week
as November 4 election day inched closer. PTI AKJ
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McCain accuses Obama of practicing left lane of politics

Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, Oct 29 (PTI) Republican presidential
nominee John McCain has accused the Democratic nominee Barack
Obama of being far out in the left lane of politics but
stopped short of branding him a "socialist".

"It's very obvious from a long record of being in the
far left-hand lane of American politics. That's why he
(Senator Obama) was -- he has a clear record of being the most
liberal senator in the US Senate," he said.

He accused the earlier Democrat presidents like George
McGovern, Jimmy Carter and others for having liberal left
view.

"They think that the solution to America's problems is
to take money from one group of Americans and give it to
another," he added.

He said that the idea has been proven very bad idea
not only in America, but also in other countries. "So it's an
idea that you can somehow help everybody's lives by taking the
money from those who have, through hard work, through spending
all their lives in building up some wealth."

"Certainly it's part of the socialist creed -- I mean,
philosophy. It's to share the wealth. Now, if Senator Obama's
a, quote, "socialist" or not is something that I'll let those
theoreticians decide."

With only six days to go for the historic presidential
elections, McCain tried to rubbish the opinion polls showing
him behind Obama and said that he believes that Joe The
Plumber has been a major catalyst in the stretch.

"You know it's amazing. This Joe the Plumber event has
really been a catalyst. It really has. You know we look back
on political campaigns. "I paid for this microphone, Mr
Breen," McCain was quoted as saying to Fox News.

He was said first referring to an incident involving
the former President Ronald Reagan during his primaries.

"There are moments when something happened, and
clearly Senator Obama going to Joe the Plumber's drive way,
and him getting an answer that clearly he didn't like, and, by
the way, the way that they attacked him... And of course, if
anybody in the media, much less Joe the Plumber asks a tough
question, then they're boycotted" Senator McCain said.

He was referring to the Obama campaign pulling out of
a Station after a news anchor supposedly grilled the
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joseph Biden.

"When people in America like Joe the Plumber are able
to buy his boss' business, he creates jobs and shares wealth
and expands wealth that way rather than saying you can't have
this money, I've got to give it to somebody else," Senator
McCain maintained.

He said that the fact is that it's a far left liberal
view that you need to take money from one group of Americans
and give it to another, to take people who have built up
through their labour and their hard work and their dedication
to the free enterprise system and take it away from them.

"We have an obligation to take care of citizens in
our society who can't care for themselves. That's why we have
those programmes, those safety net programmes."

"But you know, the safety net programmes, a lot of
Americans pay into Social Security, they pay into a number of
those programmes, so the point is yes, a society and
government takes care of citizens who need our help.

"That's what America's all about. But nobody that I
know of who framed our constitution had any thoughts that we
would take money from one group of Americans and give it to
another" the Republican Senator maintained. PTI SK
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