Early Voting Surge

Today, Sen. Barack Obama is giving what his campaign describes as the closing arguments for his candidacy to voters in Canton, Ohio. As he wraps up his campaign in the final eight days before Election Day, he also plans to air a 30-minute television program during primetime on CBS and NBC simultaneously at a cost of $1 million each.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain distanced himself from President George W. Bush after a meeting with economic and business leaders in Cleveland, Ohio. “We both disagree with President Bush on economic policy,” said McCain referring to Obama. “The difference is that he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high.”

Also today the McCain campaign released “Life Savings” an ad that highlights his differences with Obama on taxes. McCain is steadily trying to position himself as the candidate with the answers to solve the nation’s economic and employment problems. He is simultaneously pushing the message that Obama will tax Americans more in order to pay for more government spending.

“I will create millions of high-paying jobs through tax cuts that spur economic growth — particularly for the small businesses which create 70% of all new jobs in this country,” said McCain.

Accounts from Politico.com about internal strife within the Republican ticket suggest that Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin is trying to distance herself from McCain because his handlers botched her vice presidential rollout and tarnished her public image.

After speeches in Ohio, Obama will travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, later on Monday. Tuesday he will venture over to Virigina, another battleground state with 13 electoral votes up for grabs.

Bush won Virginia in 2004, but recent elections have trended towards Democrats. Two Monday polls had Obama ahead in Virginia by seven and eight points, although earlier polls have showed a narrower margin, reports Reuters. A set of Reuters/Zogby polls on Monday showed Obama ahead in five out of eight crucial battleground states and McCain with a lead in two. In Florida, the largest of the states up for grabs with 27 electoral college votes, the race was dead even.

Obama’s lead may be attributed to the comparisons he makes between McCain and President George W. Bush. He is relying heavily on the idea that even red states that voted for Bush in 2004 are unhappy with his administration and don’t want the same results for the next four years.

“After 21 months and three debates, Sen. McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from President George Bush when it comes to the economy,” said Obama in his Canton speech.

Another red state up for grabs is North Carolina with 15 electoral votes. Sen. Joe Biden will be in Greensboro and Greenville, North Carolina, today and then travels to Florida. North Carolina might be a tough grab for Obama considering that even John Edwards, a native of the state, couldn’t help Kerry beat Bush there in 2004.

With 20 electoral votes, a candidate has never won the White House without Ohio. A Reuters/Zogby poll today had Obama up in Ohio by five points, and three other recent surveys also have shown him in the lead. Another has McCain leading by three points.

Recent Zogby polls are not very consistent and sometimes award Obama with the lead and other times McCain. Given the margin of error of 2.9% these leads may be immaterial. Nevertheless, Obama has a noticeable lead in Colorado with nine electoral votes, Pennsylvania (21), Indiana (11) and Wisconsin (10).

The campaigns have placed McCain and Palin and Obama and Biden in different swing states in order to cover more ground. Biden will spend the rest of the week in Florida talking to supporters and undecided voters in Melbourne, Ocala, and Jupiter. Sen. Hillary Clinton will be in Manchester and Pelham, New Hampshire on Tuesday, a state that she lost to Obama during the Primaries.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for

Monday shows Obama attracting 51% of the vote and John McCain with  46%. Obama’s five-point advantage (+/- 2% at a 95% confidence level) is down from an eight-point lead yesterday but up a point from the lead he held a week ago.

Over the weekend an additional 35 more newspapers endorsed Barack Obama, bringing the current total number of endorsements to over 190. Key endorsements included one from the Anchorage Daily News, vice presidential contender Palin’s own state. McCain came out of the weekend with 82.

As the candidates move into the last full week of the election it seems both candidates have agreed to place more emphasis on the economy, which will likely be the deciding issue for voters who seem averse to the negative campaign ads that were distributed over the last two weeks.

Marcia A. Wade is a reporter at BlackEnterprise.com