McCain attacks Obama in final debate

The Arizona senator comes out fighting in the last debate before the election but Obama emerges unscathed.

HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK // John McCain, needing to reignite his faltering presidential campaign, accused Barack Obama in their final debate of waging class warfare with his tax plans and lashed out at the Democrat's efforts to link him to George W Bush's unpopular presidency.

"Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago," Mr McCain said.

He came out fighting last night in what was perhaps his last big opportunity to turn around a campaign less than three weeks before the election, but Mr Obama emerged from the encounter relatively unscathed. Mr McCain's poll numbers have fallen as Americans appear increasingly unwilling to put another Republican in the White House at a time of financial turmoil and fears of a recession. The 90-minute encounter, at Hofstra University outside New York City, had the fireworks lacking in the candidates' first two debates.

With the rivals seated at a round table, Mr McCain assailed Mr Obama's character and his campaign positions on taxes, trade, abortion and other issues. Mr McCain heatedly demanded that Mr Obama explain his relationship with William Ayers, a Vietnam War-era radical. Mr Obama brushed off the attack, saying he was eight-year-old when Ayers was involved in anti-war activities, including the bombing of federal buildings.

For all of Mr McCain's intensity, it was far from clear that he managed to undermine Mr Obama's growing popularity. The attacks also risked a backlash: polls have shown that personal attacks by the McCain campaign - including advertisements about Ayers - have backfired, alienating voters at a time that the economy is the overwhelming concern. When Mr McCain talked about Ayers, Mr Obama countered: "The fact that this has become such an important part of your campaign, Senator McCain, says more about your campaign than it says about me."

As in the previous two debates, national polls showed a majority of debate watchers rated Mr Obama the clear winner. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found that 58 per cent of those surveyed said Mr Obama did the best job in the debate, with 31 per cent saying Mr McCain did better. The poll was conducted by telephone with 620 adult Americans who watched the debate and had a sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Mr Obama lacked McCain's intensity, as he looked to maintain a calm, confident, presidential demeanour and avoid mistakes that could undermine his lead. Mr McCain committed no major errors, but his tone was harsher. He avoided looking at Mr Obama in the first debate, and dismissively referred to him as "that one" in the second. He was more animated yesterday. *AP