Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama clashed over the economy and oil companies today in the last stretch of the battle for the White House.
Mr McCain charged Mr Obama would not do enough to rein in oil company profits. The Republican candidate jumped on the record quarterly profits posted by Exxon Mobil, noting Mr Obama had supported tax breaks for the oil industry in the 2005 energy bill and "when I'm president, we're not going to let that happen."
"Senator Obama voted for billions in corporate giveaways to the oil companies. I voted against it," Mr McCain told supporters in Defiance, Ohio, as he tried to jump-start a comeback in a race that appears to be tipping toward his rival.
"If I'm elected president, we're going to stop sending $700 billion a year to pay for oil from countries that don't like us very much," Mr McCain said. "We're going to drill off shore and we're going to drill now."
The latest comments come after Mr Obama's mammoth purchase of 30 minutes of television time that was aired across three national networks and several cable networks last night for what he billed as an "infomercial" on his campaign.
The half-hour campaign advertisement was seen by 21.7 per cent of households who were watching television in the biggest US markets last night, according to ratings from Nielsen. That compares with a 38.3 per cent rating for the final presidential debate, Nielsen added.
The Illinois senator leads Mr McCain in national opinion polls and in key states like Florida and Ohio with five days of campaigning left before Tuesday's presidential election.
At a rally in Sarasota, Florida today, Mr Obama referred to Thursday's announcement that the US economy had suffered its sharpest contraction in seven years and said the drop in GDP reflected the failed Republican economic policies of Mr McCain and President George W. Bush.
"If you want to know where John McCain will drive this economy, just look in the rear-view mirror," he said, using the same theme of a new advertisement launched by his campaign.
"Because when it comes to our economic policies, John McCain has been right next to George W. Bush. He's been sitting there in the passenger seat ready to take over," he said.
"The central question in this election is this: what will our next president do to take us in a different direction?"
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin today said the Democratic nominee would be incapable of meeting national security challenges.
"Barack Obama didn't have much to say in that long infomercial of his last night about the stakes in the wars America is fighting, or about the need to support the troops in the field, or why he supported cutting off funding to our troops in the war," Ms Palin said after meeting a group of retired military commanders.
The Alaskan governor said Mr Obama's 30-minute television ad on Wednesday sought to wrap his "closing message" before next Tuesday's election in warm and fuzzy commercial trappings.
"He wants to soften the focus in these closing days, hoping your mind won't wander to the real challenges of national security that he is incapable of meeting," she said.
A Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll showed Mr Obama with a seven-point national lead on McCain, though some other polls show the race tighter. McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told reporters he thought the Arizona senator was closing in on Mr Obama in the final days.
Elsewhere, a man who prompted protests by hanging an effigy of US Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin by a noose from his home at Halloween has removed the display because it was causing too much trouble.
Chad Michael Morrisette had dressed a mannequin to resemble the Alaska governor, complete with beehive hairstyle and her trademark glasses, and hung it by the neck from the eaves of his home in famously liberal West Hollywood.
This triggered counter-protests and a visit by the US Secret Service, although officials concluded he had violated no law.
Mr Morrisette also plans to take down a mannequin of Republican candidate John McCain which had protruded from the chimney surrounded in flames, Stevens said.
Counter protesters had held up a large sheet to screen the display and someone had created a similar effigy of Mr Morrisette with a sign reading: "Chad, How Does it Feel?"
Reuters