Democrats will dominate Washington with Obama, McCain warns

Last Updated: Saturday, October 25, 2008 | 6:45 PM ET

Reuters, special to CBC News

Republican presidential nominee John McCain, trailing in the polls, raised the spectre Saturday of a complete Democratic takeover of Washington as a reason to elect him over Democrat Barack Obama in 10 days.

McCain, struggling to prevent New Mexico and other western states that typically vote Republican from going to Obama on Nov. 4, used the argument to try to change the election outlook.

Obama holds a commanding lead in national opinion polls and is ahead in several key battleground states that McCain needs to win. At a rally in Reno, Nev., Obama hammered McCain as being little different than President George W. Bush.

At an Albuquerque rally, McCain accused the Illinois senator of seeking to raise taxes on most Americans, particularly small businesses responsible for much of the hiring during a severe economic downturn in which hundreds of thousands of jobs have been shed.

Obama says his plan to tax Americans making more than $250,000 US would allow a tax cut for 95 per cent of Americans.

McCain said having Democrats in control of the White House, the House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and the Senate under Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada would give Democrats unfettered power.

Major gains expected

The Democrats are expected to increase their majorities in both houses of Congress on election day.

Riding Americans' desire for a change from the Bush administration, Democrats appear poised to make major gains in the House and Senate.

"Senator Obama's tax increase would put even more people out of work," McCain said. "We've seen this before in other countries. It doesn't work. The answer to a strong economy is not higher taxes.

"But that is exactly what's going to happen if the Democrats have total control of Washington. We can't let that happen. Are you ready for Obama, Pelosi and Reid?" the Arizona senator said.

Obama was back to active campaigning after taking a break to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii. Dead in his sights were the western states that McCain needs: Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado.

In Reno, Obama criticized McCain for saying again Friday that government should ease its regulations on business and he mocked the senator from neighbouring Arizona for saying Bush's economic policies had gotten "out of hand."

Obama pushes connections

"Let's be clear: John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like [vice-president] Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy," Obama told about 11,000 supporters at a chilly morning rally at the University of Nevada.

He said Bush did not seem offended, since he voted for McCain on Friday in an advance poll.

"And that's no surprise, because when it comes to the policies that matter for middle-class families, there's not an inch of daylight between George Bush and John McCain," Obama said.

He had other events scheduled in Las Vegas, Albuquerque and the Colorado cities of Denver and Fort Collins.

Obama's campaign released a two-minute television ad that asks the question whether Americans are better off economically than they were four years ago.

In the ad, Obama says he will "launch a rescue plan for the middle class" with 95 per cent of Americans getting a tax cut.

The ad said Americans making less than $200,000 would get a tax cut. The McCain campaign called it a "shifty" change in Obama's tax plan, since he has said people making more than $250,000 a year would get a tax increase.

Obama has bigger budget

Appearing with McCain in Albuquerque, top supporter Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina pointed to the overwhelming financial edge that Obama has, enabling his campaign to run more television and radio advertisements.

"Don't let Barack Obama buy New Mexico," he said.

After a rally in Mesilla, N.M., McCain was headed to Iowa to campaign there Sunday.

Bush won Iowa in 2004, but the state appears so solidly in Obama's camp that the Des Moines Register reported several Republican strategists wondered why McCain was wasting his time there.

McCain told the Albuquerque crowd that he relished being the underdog in the race.

"Ten days to go, we're a few points down and the pundits, of course — as they have four or five times — have written us off," McCain said.

"And you know what, my friends? They forgot one thing. They forget to let you decide.... We love being the underdog and we're going to win."