McCain, Obama play on each other's turf

WASHINGTON — Two days before Election Day, John McCain and Barack Obama are playing on each other's turf, with McCain dashing through Democratic states where he trails and Obama showing his strength in one that voted Republican in the last two presidential elections.

Polls show Obama leading nationally and in several key states that could decide the election, including Virginia, Colorado and Pennsylvania. The Obama campaign is seeking to expand the playing field even further, perhaps setting the stage for an electoral landslide. But McCain's advisers note that the Arizona senator has come from behind before.

A year ago, McCain's campaign appeared all but dead before came rebounded to win the New Hampshire primary en route to a Super Tuesday landslide that essentially won him the GOP nomination. On Sunday, McCain's advisers predicted another come-from-behind victory.

"John's a closer. He always has been," former Sen. Fred Thompson said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "He often is given up for dead — literally and politically. People have been wrong about him before."

"I think the election has yet to be decided," Thompson added.

In Wallingford, Pa., Sunday, McCain declared to a cheering crowd: "Two days. Two days to victory."

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said Pennsylvania will be the most important state to watch Tuesday. It is one of two states won by Democrat John Kerry in 2004 where McCain is still competing. The other is New Hampshire. McCain is visiting both Sunday, as well as Florida. Polls show Obama leading in New Hampshire while Florida is a tossup.

Obama was spending Sunday in Ohio, a traditional battleground that went for the Republican presidential candidate in 2004 and 2000. His events included an appearance in Cleveland with rocker Bruce Springsteen.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said Sunday that the Democrat has expanded the electoral map by aggressively campaigning in traditional Republican states like Virginia, Colorado and Nevada.

"We did not want to wake up on the morning of Nov. 4 waiting for one state. We wanted a lot of different ways to win this election," Plouffe said on "Fox News Sunday."

"Here we find ourselves two days out from the election with a lot of different ways to get to 270 electoral votes," Plouffe said. "We do not have to pull an inside straight."

To be elected, candidates must win 50 percent plus one of the 538 electoral votes awarded to states based on population.