"
John McCain and Sarah Palin address a rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Bradley C Bower/AP
Barack Obama demonstrated his pulling power by attracting thousands of people to an outdoor rally in torrential rain today in Pennsylvania, a state on which John McCain has staked almost all of his hopes of a surprise win next Tuesday's election.
Confirming Pennsylvania's pivotal position on the electoral map, McCain was also in the state, campaigning alongside his running-mate, Sarah Palin, who told a crowd of about 10,000: ""It is going to come down to the wire here.""
Although it was one of McCain's best performances in weeks, he is facing polls that put Obama consistently ahead - the latest has Obama on 51% to McCain on 41%.
He is also beset by continuing distractions over Palin. Amid persistent rumours of strains between his campaign team and her advisers, the Politico website quoted one of his aides, speaking anonymously, describing her as ""a whack job"".
With time running out for McCain, Obama today showed how difficult it will be for the Republican candidate to make up ground in the state.
In spite of ankle-deep mud and freezing rain, campaign workers estimated about 8,000 people waited for hours for him to arrive in Chester, on the outskirts of Philadelphia, huddled under umbrellas, draped in plastic ponchos and even wearing plastic carrier bags over their shoes.
""This is an unbelievable crowd for this kind of weather,"" Obama told them when he stepped out in a dark rain jacket over jeans. ""If we see this kind of dedication on election day there is no way we are not going to bring change to America.""
Pennsylvania, which has voted for Democrats in every presidential election since 1988, is the only Democratic state where McCain is still strongly competing.
In spite of a commanding lead over McCain in the polls, Obama's main ally in the state, the governor, Ed Rendell, has been warning the campaign not to take Pennsylvania for granted. Although Obama is ahead overall, detailed polls show the several key counties have tightened in McCain's favour over the last week and the two are now in a dead heat.
McCain is also pinning his hopes on white, working-class voters reluctant to turn out for Obama for a variety of reasons, including race. But many of them are angry over the economy and the blame they attribute to the Republicans outweighs their own lingering prejudices.
McCain's rally was indoors, at the Giant Arena, in Hershey, the central Pennsylvania home of the chocolate bar, and, after days of only attracting derisory crowds, he almost filled the 12,000-seat ice hockey stadium.
McCain appeared to be reinvigorated and, after weeks of floundering, to have settled on a consistent message portraying Obama as a socialist and untested in a crisis.
Seeming to address the reports of tension between his and Palin's teams, McCain, standing only a few feet from her, said: ""When two mavericks join up we don't agree on everything, but it's a lot of fun.""
Areas like Hershey are where the election could be won or lost, with residents saying the town is fairly evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
To loud cheers from a boisterous crows, McCain said: ""We are going to fool the pundits and win Pennsylvania.""
McCain took a swipe at Obama over the million dollars he is spending on a half-hour paid-for television address tomorrow night, unprecedented in US political history. It will held before a World Series baseball game, delaying the start, to the irritation of some fans.
""By the way, no one will interrupt the World Series for an infomercial when I'm president,"" McCain said.
In spite of a standing ovation, many in the audience had come to see not McCain but Palin, who received the loudest cheers. Some of the audience left after she has spoken and before McCain had a chance to begin.
In spite of Obama's turn-out today, there is a lot of resistance to him in places like Hershey. Kim Condran, 40, a health worker who was at the McCain rally, expressed confidence that McCain can still take Pennsylvania. ""Obama is not a truthful person. I don't think he is revealing everything in his past. He has too many connections to foreigners, the bad ones,"" she said.
McCain and Palin had a good turn-out given the event was early in the morning, that it was a working day and the rain was heavy. But McCain opted against putting to the test whether he is capable of drawing, like Obama, an outdoor crowd in heavy rain, cancelling such an event later in the day in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania's two major cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are expected to vote heavily for Obama, while McCain hopes to wrap up the small towns and rural areas sandwiched between them.
Behind the scenes, the Obama camp is worried about long lines at polling stations and other disruptions in battleground states.
Voting rights advocates in Pennsylvania have filed law suits to demand that state election officials increase their supply of paper ballots, and have reserves of trained poll workers on hand.
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