McCain vows to be America's 'fighter'

GOP hopeful doesn't accept being 'written off' as rival sets his sights on N.C

WILMINGTON -- Sen. John McCain, conceding he is behind in the presidential race, cast himself Monday as the fighter America needs to face its enemies abroad and to restore the economy at home.

"The national media has written us off," McCain told 2,500 people at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington. "Senator Obama is measuring the drapes.

"But they forgot to let you decide. Friends, we got them just where we want them. What America needs in this hour is a fighter."

McCain's visit to Wilmington was his first public appearance in North Carolina in the general election. His Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, has campaigned in the state five times and sharply outspent him on advertising and staffing. Obama has aired a television ad specific to North Carolina, linking the closure of Maiden-based Carolina Mills factories to McCain's support for free-trade measures.

McCain is being forced to play defense in North Carolina and in Virginia -- two upper-tier Southern states that have been reliably Republican in recent presidential elections. McCain sent his running mate, Sarah Palin, into North Carolina last week and she is scheduled to return for a fundraiser in Greensboro and a rally at Elon University on Thursday. Plans are being laid for McCain to attend a rally in Charlotte on Saturday.

And after Monday's rally, McCain went to a residential area in Wilmington to film a campaign commercial.

The Wilmington event drew an enthusiastic crowd that chanted "U-S-A" and "McCain," but did not include the personal insults about Obama that recently prompted McCain to defend his Democratic opponent. About a dozen Barack Obama supporters outside the event got into a brief shouting match after the rally with McCain supporters on the grass. Shouts of "Nobama" were matched by "Yes We Can."

Among McCain's supporters, there were clearly doubts about Obama's personal associations.

Celeste Avery, a 33-year-old Democrat who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primary, is backing McCain because she doesn't trust Obama.

"There are too many crooked ties," said Avery, a small-business owner from Wilmington. "I don't want a president who's tied to Ayers, Farrakhan and Wright."

Avery was referring to William Ayers, a 1960s anti-war radical turned professor who hosted a campaign event for Obama early in his political career and with whom Obama later served on an charity board; Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, whose anti-Semitic comments Obama has denounced; and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor, whose racial provocations Obama has disavowed.

History's lessons

McCain drew several contrasts between himself and Obama: experience versus inexperience; fiscal restraint versus high taxes and increased spending; and withdrawal from Iraq "with honor" rather than a precipitous withdrawal.

McCain advisers said the Arizona senator was retooling his message to feature more "straight talk" about the economy.

"These are hard times," McCain said. "Our economy is in crisis. Our savings are in danger. Our retirement is at risk. Jobs are disappearing. The cost of health care, of children's college, and gasoline are rising all the time."

"The next president won't have time to get used to the office. We will have to act immediately and to do that we will need experience, courage and judgment, and a bold plan to take this country in a new direction."

McCain compared Obama with President Herbert Hoover, who was in office when the country went into the Great Depression in 1929. He said Obama's proposal to raises taxes would be the wrong remedy for an economy in decline. (Obama has said he would raise taxes only on those who make more than $250,000 per year and would reduce taxes on the middle class.)