CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - Gov. Ted Strickland on Friday sought to allay concerns of gun owners in his state who fear Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would push for greater restrictions on firearms.
 
“There is probably no governor, I would say, in the United States of America, who has a stronger, better record in the support of the Second Amendment than does Governor Ted Strickland and I’m proud of that,” Strickland told a rally in Chillicothe as he warmed up the crowd ahead of a speech by Obama.
 
Strickland, whose battleground state is a focus of intensive campaigning by Obama and Republican John McCain, said he spoke directly to Obama about the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment.
 
“If you are a sportsman, if you are a gun owner, if you are someone that honors and respects the Second Amendment, you have nothing to fear from Barack Obama,” the Democratic governor said at a rally in the rural southern part of his state.
 
In June, after the Supreme Court struck down a strict gun control law in Washington, Obama said he supports the Second Amendment protection.
 
But he also added that he identifies with some living in inner cities who seek “common sense, effective safety measures” to try reduce gun violence in crime-ravaged communities.
 
In April, Obama’s comments to a closed-door fund-raiser in San Francisco saying small town voters would “cling” to their guns and religion because they were “bitter” over their economic conditions caused a storm of criticism.
 
McCain endeared himself to Americans in favor of the right to bear arms by picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who enjoys hunting and who, according to former Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson, knows how to “field-dress a moose.”
 
Palin might differ with Strickland on which governor is a bigger champion of the Second Amendment. 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (Guns are seen inside a display case at the Cabela’s store in Fort Worth, Texas June 26, 2008)
   

With polls showing that Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has a shot at winning North Carolina, Republican rival John McCain is sending his wife Cindy to the state on Saturday to shore up what has traditionally been a stronghold for conservatives.

Obama has made inroads in North Carolina and made the city of Asheville his spot for preparing for the debate held this week. Plus, two out of three polls released this week have shown the Democrat ahead by as many as five points while the third poll showed McCain ahead by 3 points.

Cindy McCain, who has been taking a more prominent role in the campaign in recent days, will serve as the Grand Marshal at the NASCAR Bank of America 500 race on Saturday in Concord, North Carolina, the Republican’s campaign said. 

In addition to seeking those NASCAR voters, McCain’s vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, will be wooing the hockey contingent when she drops the ceremonial first puck in another battleground state, Pennsylvania, as the Philadelphia Flyers face off against the New York Rangers on Saturday.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Robert LeSieur (NASCAR Sprint Cup last month in Delaware.)

As White House hopefuls Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama make their final pitches to voters as the Nov. 4 election draws near, the two campaigns are putting the finishing touches on their ground games to identify supporters and get them to the polls.

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In a bruising campaign, John McCain’s unfaithfulness during his marriage to his first wife, Carol, and Barack Obama’s drug use as a young man have occasionally come up.
    
So when IDW Publishing set out to create biographical comics about McCain and Obama, it included those scandals.
    
In one panel from Obama’s youth, he is shown playing basketball and driving to the basket. A narration box says that “He was experimenting with tobacco, alcohol, pot and cocaine.” The comic helpfully explains that Obama was trying “to figure out where he belonged” at the time.
    
McCain’s former hard-partying lifestyle is also put on display in the comics. In one panel, he is seen dancing on a table with a woman in a skirt, from his days in the Navy. In another panel from the same time period, McCain is seen in a red convertible with a woman. The narration box reads that “He began seeing other women. Rumors flew around the base. Before long Carol knew, but kept silent.”
    
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has sought this week to paint Obama as a man who was “palling around” with terrorists by in the past associating with William Ayers, a former member of the radical group the Weather Underground. That connection doesn’t merit a mention in the Obama comic book. There is, however, a panel on Obama arriving at the Democratic National Convention in 2000 and not being able to get a floor pass.
    
The comics hit stands and bookstores on Wednesday. 

Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Blake.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Democrat Barack Obama wasn’t quite ready to call it a night after his debate on Tuesday night with Republican John McCain.

Obama stopped by the home Al and Tipper Gore in Belle Meade, just outside of Nashville, where the former vice president and his wife were holding a fundraiser on his behalf.

The soiree raised more than $900,000 for Obama’s campaign coffers.

Gore said he didn’t want to take anything for granted but introduced Obama as the “next president of the United States.”

Obama, who was joined by his wife Michelle, praised Gore’s efforts to fight global warming and said he valued the former vice president’s advice. But he kept his remarks short and passed up the chance to offer some post-debate spin.

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Photo credit: Reuters / Jason Reed 

Round two of the presidential debates between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama is over.

How did they do?

The town hall format was seen as an advantage for McCain. Did he live up to expectations?

Obama has been gaining an edge in many battleground states. Did he do anything to undermine or enhance his small lead?

Did they focus enough on the issues? Were undecided voters swayed?

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria

The second presidential tete-a-tete in Nashville on Tuesday was dubbed a “town hall” debate which freed Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain from the stodgy podiums and allowed them to roam around the stage to talk to the audience and cameras.

Often when members of the audience — 100 undecided Nashville voters identified by the Gallup polling company — asked a question, each candidate walked as close as he could and often thanked them by name for asking. Obama and McCain then paced back and forth across the stage to address the entire audience as they answered.

McCain, who loves the town hall format, got in one jibe against Obama for finally attending one after he failed to get him to agree to hold such discussions every week until the Nov. 4 election. “Senator Obama, it’s good to be with you at a town hall meeting,” McCain said.

When one candidate answered a question, the other typically sat on a tall chair listening and taking notes on a side table. On occasion, one would stand up while the other talked in anticipation of giving a response to refute one point or another.

The one obvious violation of the ground rules was going over the allotted time. The moderator, Tom Brokaw of NBC News, repeatedly pleaded with McCain and Obama to stay within the confines of the short responses.

“Gentlemen, you may not have noticed but we have lights around here.  They have red and green and yellow and they are to signal…” he said, referring to the time allotments.

Brokaw vented further frustration with the candidates’ refusal to heed the time limits when Obama and then McCain insisted they needed to follow up on each others’ statements over Pakistan.
    
“I’m just the hired help here,” Brokaw said.
    
Obama replied, “You’re doing a great job, Tom” and then launched into a criticism of McCain’s comments on Pakistan.  

- Additional reporting by Caren Bohan

- Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria

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While White House hopefuls Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama wasted no time trading barbs in their second presidential debate, they agreed on the one man they would like to see running their Treasury Department to help pull the U.S. economy out of a tailspin: investment guru Warren Buffett.

“A supporter of Senator Obama’s is Warren Buffett. He has already weighed in and helped stabilize some of the difficulties in the markets and with companies and corporations, institutions today,” McCain said.

“I like Meg Whitman, she knows what it’s like to be out there in the marketplace.  She knows how to create jobs.  Meg Whitman was CEO of a company that started with 12 people,” McCain said, referring to one of his own economic advisers who used to run online auction giant eBay.

“Warren would be a pretty good choice — Warren Buffett, and I’m pleased to have his support,” Obama said. “But there are other folks out there.”

Who would voters like to see running the Treasury Department under the next administration and working to fix the economy?

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Good or bad, you can’t accuse the John McCain campaign of not having a sense of humor.

The Republican presidential candidate’s staff handed out cufflinks — yes, cufflinks — on Tuesday to surprised reporters with an unexpected decoration on top: a mock presidential seal for rival Democrat Barack Obama and the Illinois senator’s web site.

That’s not all. On the back, carefully engraved, were the words “The One.” 

Subtle? Not so much. The Arizona senator’s aides often poke fun at the messianic quality they feel Obama assumes and his supporters accept. Both sides have grown increasingly negative as the campaign enters its last month and McCain finds himself slightly behind in the latest polls.

Obama used a faux presidential seal on a podium at a campaign event earlier this year, drawing some ridicule and criticism for being presumptuous. He never used it again.

The Obama camp was not amused.

“People are struggling, and they want to hear about what these candidates are going to do to fix the economic crisis,” Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said. “It’s unfortunate that the McCain campaign is instead focused on these silly distractions.”

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder

WILMINGTON, Del. - Expect Joe Biden to come out swinging Wednesday when the Democratic vice presidential nominee resumes his campaign after a five-day break to attend family matters.
 
Biden goes to Florida where he’s ready again to hit Republican presidential nominee John McCain on the top issue among voters, the ailing economy.
 
He’s also expected to rip into McCain for increased attacks in recent days on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
 
With a month to go before Election Day, candidates normally accelerate their campaign schedules. But with his son heading off to the Iraq war and mother-in-law dying after a long illness, Biden grounded his campaign to be at home with family.
 
He’s been in Delaware since the morning after his debate last Thursday in St. Louis with Republican rival Sarah Palin.
 
Both Biden and Palin gave what were widely seen as strong performances.
 
Biden told Newsweek magazine the next day — in an interview at a coffee shop near his home in Wilmington — that he was happy with the debate, that he liked Palin but that doesn’t believe their showdown will have much impact.
 
“The real issue is John and Barack,” Biden said.
 
Biden planned to watch Tuesday night’s Obama-McCain debate at home with family, an aide said.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (Joe Biden during vice presidential debate Oct. 2)