McCain cites time as aviator

By Margaret Talev and William Douglas - McClatchy Newspapers

HARRISBURG, Pa. — With polls showing him losing ground, Republican John McCain on Tuesday raised the specter of nuclear war to cast doubt on Democrat Barack Obama's readiness to be president.

At a rally in Pennsylvania's capital, McCain recalled how as a naval aviator he was poised for a bombing run during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Report shows Obama's huge edge in money
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spent $87.5 million last month and began October with nearly $134 million in the bank.
The numbers illustrate his vast financial advantage over John McCain, his Republican rival, in the final stretch of the contest. McCain ended September with $47 million in the bank.
Obama, who raised a record-shattering $150 million in September, filed his campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission overnight. The numbers became available on the FEC Web site Tuesday morning.
McCain is accepting public financing and cannot raise money. He is limited to $84 million for the two months before Election Day, Nov. 4.
Associated Press

"I sat in the cockpit on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise off of Cuba. I had a target," he said. "My friends, you know how close we came to a nuclear war. America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I've been tested my friends."

As McCain barnstormed through three stops in suburban Philadelphia and Harrisburg, he also accused Obama of flip-flopping on his favorite team in the World Series.

McCain's new line of attack on his opponent, a first-term senator who hasn't served in the military, came as McCain spent a full day on an uphill effort to overtake Obama in a battleground state. Obama campaigned for a second straight day in another battleground, Florida, where he has edged ahead in polls by two points on average.

At a nighttime rally in Miami, Obama told the crowd that he'd seen some of a McCain speech in Pennsylvania on TV earlier in the day.

"He has decided to completely make up, just fabricate, this notion that I've been attacking Joe the Plumber. I've got nothing but love for Joe The Plumber," Obama said. "That's why I want to give him a tax cut. Senator McCain's decided that if he can't beat our ideas, he'll make up others and run against those. What we need now is not straw men."

He spent the morning focusing on the economy. He convened an economic summit at a community college campus in Lake Worth to showcase his middle-class tax cut and small-business tax credit proposals.

The economic panel included former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; Google chief executive Eric Schmidt; Democratic governors of Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico and Michigan; and a small-business owner who told the audience, "I'm not Joe the Plumber."

With polls showing McCain falling behind in battleground states such as Colorado, Wisconsin and Virginia, his campaign is pushing for a comeback in Pennsylvania, which has 21 electoral votes. McCain's wife, Cindy, made four stops in Pennsylvania Monday, and his running mate Sarah Palin has made multiple visits.

McCain still faces a daunting task. Democrats outnumber Republicans by almost 1.2 million in Pennsylvania.

At a rally in Bensalem, Pa., McCain said Obama had changed positions on who he's rooting for in the World Series.

Last weekend in Philadelphia Obama said that "since the White Sox are out of it, I'll root for the Phillies now."

But Monday in Tampa, introduced by a Rays pitcher, Obama said he's the "unity candidate" and "so when you see a White Sox fan showing the love to the Rays — and the Rays showing some love back — you know we're on to something here."

McCain argued that might be symbolic of Obama telling voters whatever they want to hear.