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We have a righteous wind at our back, says Obama

- Photo: AP

ALL SMILES: U.S. presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama at a rally with wife Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha, in Pueblo, Colorado, on Saturday.

WASHINGTON: In the U.S. presidential contest’s final frenzied weekend, Senator Barack Obama promised to heal America’s political divisions while rival John McCain fought to hold on to Republican States and pledged to score a historic upset.

For Mr. Obama, it was a time for soaring rhetoric and forays deep into Republican territory, buoyed by record campaign donations and encouraging poll numbers. “We have a righteous wind at our back,” he said on Saturday of his bid to become the first African-American President.

For Mr. McCain, the weekend was his last chance to persuade voters to defy the polls and sweep him into office. “We’re a few points down but we’re coming back,” he told supporters in Virginia. “I’m not afraid of the fight, I’m ready for it and you’re going to fight with me,” he added.

Mr. Obama on Saturday campaigned in Nevada, Colorado and Missouri, all states that voted for President George W. Bush four years ago. Both candidates were backed by supporters manning phone banks, handing out brochures and spinning journalists as the campaigns made their final push in a race that carried a price tag estimated at $2 billion. Mr. McCain’s hopes hinged on winning all or nearly all the states that carried Mr. Bush to victory in 2004, and possibly carrying Pennsylvania to give him a margin for error in America’s state-by-state system of choosing a President. Mr. Obama sought to saddle Mr. McCain with the record of President George W. Bush. Vice-President Dick Cheney said on Saturday the U.S. “cannot afford the high tax liberalism of Barack Obama and Joe Biden” and supported Mr. McCain.

Mr. Obama pounced on the remark in Pueblo, Colorado, where he said Mr. McCain had earned the endorsement through support of White House social and economic policies, seeking to appeal to American voters anxious about the teetering U.S. economy. In an awkward moment for Mr. McCain’s running-mate Sarah Palin, she was hoodwinked by a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy into saying that “maybe in 8 years” she will be President. — AP

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