ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (AFP) — With a month to go before the US election, John McCain is going for broke with an all-out offensive to portray his White House rival Barack Obama as a wild liberal who is friends with "terrorists."
But economic fear is stalking the nation, and the first African-American with a serious shot at the presidency has built a clear lead in the polls. So will the Republican's negative strategy be enough to turn the tables?
"Time is very much against him because basically, all the fundamentals of the race are running for Obama," Brookings Institution scholar and veteran White House adviser Stephen Hess said.
Noting the Arizona senator's fondness for the craps tables, he said: "There are two more debates and I assume that given McCain's gambling style, he will roll the dice.
"But I would be very surprised if more political gimmicks from McCain can make a substantial difference to the election."
McCain heads into Tuesday's second presidential debate down as much as nine points in some national polls, after a quixotic performance during heated negotiations in Congress over the US financial crisis.
The star appeal of his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is fading. The Republican has all but ceded the battleground state of Michigan, and faces a well-funded Obama onslaught in Republican strongholds such as Virginia.
Moreover, according to polls Wednesday by Quinnipiac University, the all-important swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida appear to be breaking decisively for the Democrat.
However, there is always the potential for the fabled "October Surprise" -- some out-of-the-blue revelation or event that dramatically reshapes the final buildup to November 4.
Palin Saturday gave a portent of what is to come, seizing on a New York Times report detailing the ties between Obama and William Ayres, a Chicago professor of education who was part of a 1960s group of extremists.
That group, the Weathermen, carried out a series of deadly bombings on the Pentagon and other government buildings. The report backed up Obama's assertions that he is only loosely connected to Ayres in the Chicago milieu.
But Palin, speaking at a Colorado fundraiser, accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists" and said the Democrat was therefore "not a man who sees America as you and I do, as the greatest force for good in the world."
Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said Palin was "shameless," noting the Illinois senator had condemned the Weathermen attacks as "detestable," and said the new offensive from the McCain campaign was a "desperate" effort to distract voters.
But the Republican ticket is being true to its word. Anticipating Congress's approval Friday of a 700-billion-dollar financial bailout plan, top McCain adviser Greg Strimple promised a "very aggressive last 30 days" of campaigning.
"We are looking forward to turning a page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr Obama's aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for Americans," he said.
Republican attacks portray Ayres as part of a shadowy network of Chicago backers that includes convicted fraudster Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a property tycoon who used to be a top fundraiser for Obama.
It is also unlikely that voters have heard the last about Obama's fiery former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who exploded into the campaign with videotaped sermons urging his parishioners to sing "God damn America."
McCain aides bridle furiously at any suggestion they might play the race card against Obama as the election nears. But as evidenced by several Internet ads, there are fringe right-wing groups with no such qualms.
Obama is hitting back by casting McCain as a clone of President George W. Bush and a passionate advocate of the very policies that have driven the economy into the mire.
Picking up on Strimple's comments, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the McCain campaign would rather launch "dishonest, dishonorable character attacks against Barack Obama" in the coming month than face up to the economic crisis.
"Events keep interfering with McCain's efforts to run a personality-based campaign," said Linda Fowler, professor of government at Dartmouth College, remarking on McCain's self-promotion as a "maverick" and war hero.
"So right now McCain really isn't the master of his political fate. He's riding the whirlwind out there," she said.
"And he is up against this relentlessly disciplined operation out of Chicago. It's the most focussed campaign that I've seen in a long, long time, even more so than Bush's in 2004."
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