McCain: Obama lead growing because 'life isn't fair'

Sen. Barack Obama is widening his lead against Sen. John McCain in recent polls.

"He certainly did nothing for the first few days," McCain told Fox News on Thursday. "I suspended my campaign, took our ads down, came back to Washington, met with the House folks and got on the phone, and also had face-to-face meetings."

New CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation polls of several key battleground states released Wednesday found Obama has made gains across the board -- either taking statistically significant leads or erasing McCain advantages -- over the past few weeks.

Since the financial crisis began in mid-September, Obama has taken and held a lead over McCain in the national CNN poll of polls.

But the Republican nominee said the economic anxiety-fueled poll swing was probably a blip. "Well, first of all, you know very well that these are temporary things,'' he said on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "The focus was on the fiscal crisis we were facing. I understand that. I understand there are going to be ups and downs in campaigns. I'm happy where I am ..."

McCain, appearing on CNN's American Morning on Thursday, also said the economic bailout bill will get passed by the full Congress, and he continued to take a swipe at his Democratic rival's efforts on the bill.

McCain also praised his efforts in getting House Republicans to come together.\

The bailout package, which was backed by both the Democratic and Republican congressional leadership, as well as President Bush, failed in the House by a vote of 228 to 205.

Both McCain and Obama, his Democratic rival, voted Wednesday night in favor of the bill. It passed 74 to 25. The bill now goes to the House for a vote.

McCain said he was "proud of the work that I did, particularly engaging the House Republicans who have been completely shut out of any negotiations. It's now going to be a bipartisan and bicameral result." Watch more of McCain's comments »

"I came back and suspended my campaign and got the House into the negotiations at the table, which they had not been before. We were able to get a large increase in the number of Republicans who voted for it. We were able to make significant changes in the bill, which improved it rather dramatically. And I'm confident it will go through the House of Representatives."

McCain said Obama's approach was to "phone it in" -- in regards to working with congressional leaders.

"That's the difference. I suspended my campaign and put my country first. And even if I had failed, it was still the right thing to do. We didn't fail. It's going to pass."

But McCain himself spent much of weekend speaking on the phone with congressional members in his Arlington, Virginia, campaign headquarters.

McCain also said his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, will perform well in Thursday night's vice presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri.

"The fact is she'll do fine tonight. She has experience, talent, leadership. She has great inner strength. She has an ability to lead that's been proven, taken on her own party," he said. "Joe Biden and Barack Obama have never taken on the leaders of their party on any issue. She's stood up for what's right for the people of Alaska. And she will stand up for what's right for America." Watch CNN's Bill Schneider weigh in on the VP debate »

The comments come after Palin has faced criticism for her performance during recent interviews with journalist Katie Couric.

In two separate interviews, Palin had trouble defending McCain's record on regulation issues, discussing the economic bailout, defending her foreign policy credentials, naming her preferred sources of news and naming a Supreme Court case she disagrees with.

Asked if Couric's questions were fair, McCain said he would let the American people decide.

"I know that there have been attacks on Sarah Palin that have been remarkable to me in many ways, but I have total confidence in her. She's very comfortable in her own skin," he said.

Obama, meanwhile, is in Michigan on Thursday, focusing on the economic crisis -- and his solutions to fixing it -- while also criticizing his rival.

"He's talked a lot about getting tough on Wall Street. But over the past few decades, he's fought against the very rules of the road that could have stopped this mess," he said at a rally in Grand Rapids.

"Just two weeks ago, John McCain said the fundamentals of the economy were strong. ... I don't know what yardstick Sen. McCain uses, but where I come from, there's nothing more fundamental than a job," he added.

Obama also urged the House to pass the bailout bill.