Trailing in Polls, McCain Looks For an Opening in Final Debate

Sen. John McCain is joined by his wife as he arrives for a technical walkthrough at Hofstra University. (AP)

Trailing in Polls, McCain Looks For an Opening in Final Debate

By Ben Pershing
Washingtonpost.com staff writer

After weeks of economic upheaval and a day that brought another precipitous drop in the stock market, Sens. John McCain (R) and Barack Obama (D) will meet tonight in Hempstead, N.Y., for a final presidential debate focused on domestic policy.

The faceoff at Hoftsra University may represent McCain's last and best chance to reverse the course of a contest that has slipped away from him over the last month. As bad economic news has mounted -- with titans of Wall Street disappearing and Congress passing a massive rescue package -- the Republican nominee has seen his electoral standing slip while voters migrate to the Democratic party and Obama, the candidate they increasingly prefer to handle the financial crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 733 points today, the second-largest point-drop in the Dow's century in existence, amid continued fears of a prolonged recession. That backdrop is expected to fuel an even more intense emphasis on economic policy at a debate that was already designed to focus on domestic concerns. Both of the first two McCain-Obama debates included extensive discussions of foreign policy.

In the pre-debate hours, each campaign sought to set expectations for tonight's session, with McCain's camp repeating its past practice of talking up Obama's debating skills.

"No one can out-talk Barack Obama," McCain spokeswoman Nicole Wallace said on CBS News' "The Early Show" today. "I mean, he's brilliant. He is absolutely ... a brilliant speaker. In America, he's the most gifted political communicator of our generation."

McCain is expected to tout the package of economic proposals he unveiled earlier this week, which included a reduction in taxes for early withdrawals from IRAs and 401k plans and a cut in capital gains taxes. President Bush's approval ratings are near historic lows, and in the first two debates Obama frequently sought to portray McCain's economic policies as more of the same. Tonight, McCain is expected to draw clearer distinctions between his views and those of the current administration.

"We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: Waiting for our luck to change. ... As president I intend to act, quickly and decisively, " McCain said Tuesday.

Obama, meanwhile, will likely tout his own economic prescription, which includes a tax break for businesses hiring new employees and the elimination or reduction of taxes on capital gains and spending for new equipment and property by small businesses. The Democrat - whose aides have labeled McCain "erratic" -- will also seek to convey the image of a calm, steady leader at a time of crisis

"We're not in the business of reinventing ourselves from debate to debate," Obama campaign manager David Axelrod said today, contrasting his candidate with McCain's "churning from day to day."

While Obama appears focused on giving a safe, steady performance, McCain supporters are divided over the tack the Republican nominee should take. Some backers have suggested McCain should aggressively question Obama's ties to Weather Underground founder William Ayers. McCain did not mention Ayers at the last debate, though he has hinted this week that he might do so tonight. Other conservatives - and some campaign officials -- have argued that McCain should invoke Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial former pastor, though the candidate himself has said he would not do so.

Tonight's debate at Hofstra will be moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS News. As in the first debate, each candidate will have two minutes to answer each question, followed by a five-minute discussion period. Polls taken after the first two debates -- one at the University of Mississippi on Sept. 26, and one at Belmont University on Oct. 7 -- suggested that viewers thought Obama had won both meetings.

Before the general election debates began, friends and foes alike said Obama's primary task was to convince voters that he was up to the job of being president. McCain's goal was to convince voters of the opposite, that the Democrat was too inexperienced and too naïve to hold the nation's top job in these serious times.

Whether due to their respective debate performances or the larger issue climate, recent poll numbers suggest Obama has been largely successful and McCain hasn't. In the most recent Washington Post/ABC News survey, more respondents actually rated Obama a "safe" choice for president than did so for McCain, a 26-year Senate veteran.

The poll showed Obama leading McCain by 10 points on a national level. A New York Times/CBS News survey released today put Obama's lead at 14 points, while several other surveys have pegged the Democrat's advantage in the single digits. Perhaps more importantly, a host of polls have shown Obama tied or leading McCain in up to a dozen states won by Bush in 2004, while McCain now trails in every state that voted Democratic in the last cycle.

Washington Post staff writer Shailagh Murray contributed to this report.