Debate stakes higher for McCain; insults mount

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-07 09:20

McCain is most comfortable during the give-and-take of question-and-answer events that were a hallmark of his 2000 campaign, and his 2008 primary effort. But his consistency largely depends on his mood. When he is on his game, McCain is witty and charming, filled with ready one-liners and stories from his past. When he's off, McCain can come across cranky, surly and prone to gaffes.

Obama typically is much more at ease giving speeches from behind a lectern, though he has taken impromptu questions from audiences and has grown much more adept at the back-and-forth of voter-question sessions throughout the campaign. The debate provides the professorial Obama with an opportunity to seal the deal with voters still struggling to see him as president.

Criticisms of each other are certain.

McCain "might as well take the gloves off," Palin said Monday, signaling that he may question Obama's character, record and policies as part of a stepped-up effort to make Obama an unacceptable option for voters. It's also likely Obama will go after McCain anew on the Republican's 90 percent support for President George W. Bush in the Senate, and possibly on his character as well.

Neither, however, can afford to swing so hard that he turns off voters, and the audience-participation format makes it a bit more difficult to fully engage.

Ahead of the debate, an Associated Press analysis based on polling, advertising and interviews with strategists on both sides indicated that Obama was on the cusp of the 270 votes needed to triumph in the state-by-state Electoral College vote count.

He has 21 states with 264 votes in his column or leaning his way, including Iowa and New Mexico. Bush won both four years ago, but even Republicans concede they are likely to fall to the Democrats this year. Also tilting toward Obama: Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all states where Democrat John Kerry was victorious in 2004 and where McCain is competing hard.

That leaves McCain with 23 states with 185 votes in his column or leaning toward him, including three longtime Republican-held states that Obama is trying to swipe: Indiana, Missouri, and Montana.

Just six states , with 89 votes, still appear to be toss-ups -- Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia -- and all are states Bush secured four years ago, underscoring McCain's challenge.

McCain also is trying to win a single electoral vote in one of Maine's congressional districts, while Obama is doing the same in Nebraska.

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