COLUMBUS, Ohio — Barack Obama and John McCain cranked up massive get-out-the-vote operations in more than a dozen battleground states Sunday, unleashing millions of telephone calls, mailings and door-knockings in a frenzied, fitting climax to a record- shattering $1 billion campaign. Together, they’ll have spent about $8 per presidential vote.
With just two days to go, most national polls showed Obama ahead of McCain. State surveys suggested the Democrat’s path to the requisite 270 electoral votes — and perhaps far beyond — will be much easier to navigate than McCain’s.
Obama exuded confidence.
“The last couple of days, I’ve been just feeling good,” he told 80,000 gathered to hear him — and singer Bruce Springsteen — in Cleveland. “The crowds seem to grow, and everybody’s got a smile on their face. You start thinking that maybe we might be able to win an election on Nov. 4.”
In Peterborough, N.H., McCain held his final town-hall-style event in the state that put him on the national map in 2000 and launched his GOP primary comeback eight years later.
“I come to the people of New Hampshire to ask them to let me go on one more mission,” McCain said.
Polls show the six closest states are Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada and Ohio. All were won by President Bush in 2004 and made competitive by Obama’s record-shattering fundraising. The campaigns have aggressive ground games elsewhere, including Iowa, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Colorado and Virginia.
All that’s left now for the candidates is to make sure people vote Tuesday, if they haven’t already.
Indeed, Election Day is becoming a misnomer. About 27 million absentee and early votes were cast in 30 states as of Saturday night, more than ever. Democrats outnumbered Republicans in pre-Election Day voting in key states.
That has Democrats — and even some Republicans — privately questioning whether McCain can overtake Obama, even if GOP loyalists turn out in droves Tuesday. Obama may already have too big of a head start in crucial states such as Nevada and Iowa.
As the campaign closes, voters were being inundated with television ads and automated phone calls.
In a new TV ad, Obama highlighted Vice President Dick Cheney’s support for McCain. The ad features Cheney, an unpopular figure among the general public, at an event Saturday in Wyoming, saying: “I’m delighted to support John McCain.”
Not to be outdone, the Republican National Committee rolled out battleground phone calls that included Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s criticism of Obama during the Democratic primary. She is heard saying: “In the White House, there is no time for speeches and on-the-job training. Sen. McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, and Sen. Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002.”
Obama and McCain campaigned on each other’s turf Sunday. Obama was in Ohio, a state Bush won in 2004 and where polls show Obama tied or winning. McCain visited Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, states won by John Kerry in 2004. He trails in both.
