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McCain and Obama meet in final White House debate

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-16 00:12

HEMPSTEAD - Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama face off in their final debate on Wednesday, with McCain hoping a strong performance can begin to turn around a White House race that could be slipping away.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama greets supporters at Maumee Bay Resort in Oregon, Ohio. [Agencies]

Three weeks before the November 4 election, McCain is running out of chances to reverse his slide in national opinion polls and gain ground on a surging Obama.

The 9 p.m. EDT encounter at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, will be the third and last debate between the presidential contenders and their final opportunity to reach a television audience of 60 million or more.

"You can do yourself a lot of good when you have a debate with that many people watching," South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson said.

The debate comes as new opinion polls show Obama gaining strength nationally and in battleground states after weeks of economic turmoil and plunging stock markets, with more voters saying they trust Obama's leadership on the economy.

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll gave Obama a 4-point edge over McCain, but other national polls showed a larger margin for the Illinois senator. A CBS News/New York Times poll that showed Obama leading by 14 percentage points was the fifth survey this week to register Obama's lead in double-digits.

The bad poll news heightened the debate stakes for McCain, who unveiled a package of measures on Tuesday to help investors, particularly older Americans, who have seen their retirement savings decimated by stock market losses.

Related readings:  Obama, McCain seek leader's image in final debate  Obama lays out modest steps on economy  Levi Johnston speaks on Bristol Palin, Obama and baby  Obama outlines economic rescue plan

But McCain also said he was not finished talking about Obama's service on a community board in Chicago with former 1960s radical William Ayers. The Arizona senator said he was likely to talk about Ayers during the debate.

Ayers was not discussed in the last debate, although McCain had been talking about him on the campaign trail. After the last debate, Obama noted McCain's reluctance to discuss the issue with him directly.

'Didn't have the guts'

"I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised that I didn't have the guts to do that," McCain said in an interview with KMOX radio in St. Louis, Missouri. "I think he's probably assured that it's going to come up this time."

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