AMERICA'S election campaign is grinding to a close with a new survey painting a bleak picture for John McCain as he tries to close on Barack Obama ahead of Tuesday's vote.
The New York Times/CBS poll looks past voting intentions to the attitudes that shape voter choice, and it appears to show Americans are opposed to Mr McCain on a string of issues.
Some 88 per cent of those surveyed said they think their country is
on the wrong track – 64 per cent think Mr Obama can bring change, against 39 per cent for Mr McCain.
On the economy, 54 per cent thinking Mr Obama can fix things compared with 32 per cent for his rival. And on healthcare, 66 per cent believe Mr Obama can bring spiralling insurance costs down, against only 23 per cent for Mr McCain.
The survey indicates Mr McCain will need to do more than question Mr Obama's competence or produce a new policy initiative to regain the lead.
Rather, Mr McCain must somehow change voter perceptions of his candidacy across a broad spectrum of issues – a task he will take on in spectacular fashion on Monday when he makes seven speeches in seven cities in seven states.
But Mr McCain's campaign is being handicapped by the growing unpopularity of his running-mate, Sarah Palin – the same poll found that 59 per cent of voters feel she is unfit for office, a 9 per cent rise in the past month.
Adding to Mr McCain's woes, one of his most high-profile supporters, Lawrence Eagleburger, secretary of state to George Bush snr, yesterday said that Palin was incompetent. "I devoutly hope she would never be tested," he said. "I don't think at the moment she is prepared to take over the reins of the presidency."
Publicly, Mr McCain remains confident, and has begun appearing at rallies alongside "Joe the Plumber" – Joe Wurzelbacher – hoping to portray himself as being in touch with the concerns of ordinary voters.
"I've been in a lot of campaigns and I can feel momentum, and I can feel momentum in this room tonight," he said in a speech in Ohio.
Campaign staff have seized on the tightening of opinion polls in some states – including Missouri and Florida where the two candidates are in dead heat – as proof of a comeback.
Mr McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, said: "We are witnessing, I believe, probably one of the greatest comebacks that you've seen since John McCain won the primary."
Mr McCain has also taken the risk of appearing on the satirical comedy show Saturday Night Live this weekend, despite the show frequently lampooning him as dim and elderly.
Two weeks ago, Mrs Palin appeared on the show alongside Tina Fey, who impersonates the vice-presidential candidate, attracting a huge audience but failing to halt her falling approval ratings.
Mr Obama is planning his own marathon with a swing through eight battleground states between now and polling day.
Yesterday he returned to Iowa, the scene of his first primary election triumph.
"Don't believe for a second this election is over," he said. "In four days we can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election. That asks us to fear when we need to hope."
Mr Obama can afford his upbeat tone, with the New York Times poll giving him a nine-point lead over his rival, and Gallup putting the gap at eight.
And there were signs yesterday that Mr Obama is prepared to flex his muscles.
A reporter from Rupert Murdoch's pro-McCain flagship newspaper the New York Post was told that he had lost his seat on the Obama campaign plane, along with the correspondent of the right-wing Washington Times. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said both men were welcome to follow Mr Obama's eight-state marathon by bus instead.
Biden masters the art of script-readingWHEN he strayed off script this week on the campaign trail, the usually loquacious but gaffe-prone Joe Biden quickly reeled himself in.
Famous for off-the-cuff comments he later regrets and for long-winded speeches, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, a veteran foreign policy expert in the US Senate, is showing unusual restraint.
With polls giving Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, a lead over the Republican John McCain, Mr Biden is anxious not to create an unwelcome diversion before Tuesday's election.
Described by a Republican as "the sound-bite machine that keeps on giving", Mr Biden's biggest gaffe has been to say that if Mr Obama wins, he will be tested in his first six months, a comment the McCain camp seized on as it argued that the first-term senator was too inexperienced to be president.
"Watch – we're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy," said Mr Biden, immediately raising red flags among Obama staffers.
On the trail, Mr Biden is kept largely away from reporters and has not held a news conference since early September.
But his supporters largely forgive his missteps and refer to his experience as a big plus.
"He can be trusted," said one when asked what she thought of Mr Biden's occasional mistakes.
