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Hempstead: Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday batttled it out in the final Presidential debate before American's cast their ballots on November 4. In their liveliest and most contentious debate McCain attacked Obama's tax plan, campaign tone and relationship with a 1960s radical.
The presidential rivals complained about the negativity of each other's campaigns during a tense and frequently testy debate that featured repeated discussion of "Joe the plumber", a small business owner Obama met in Ohio.
McCain pressed Obama to explain his relationship with 1960s radical William Ayers, who served with Obama on a community board in Chicago. Obama said he was simply an acquaintance.
"Mr. Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign. And he will not advise me in the White House," Obama said.
McCain, 72, an Arizona senator, entered the debate under intense pressure to give a strong performance that could turn around a presidential race moving decisively in Obama's favour after weeks of economic turmoil and plunging stock markets.
Opinion polls three weeks before the November 4 election show more voters say they trust Obama's leadership on the economy, which has dominated the campaign-trail discussion and dwarfed McCain's expertise in foreign and military policy.
McCain repeatedly criticised Obama throughout the debate, turning in a more aggressive performance than in the first two showdowns. McCain rebuked Obama for frequently claiming that he is too close to the policies of President George W. Bush.
"Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run four years ago," McCain said in their final debate, at Hofstra University in New York.
Several recent opinion polls have shown McCain's attacks on Obama's character have largely backfired, increasing unfavourable opinions about McCain among voters looking for solutions on the economy.
McCain also lashed out at Obama's plans to increase taxes. "Why would you want to raise anybody's taxes right now?" McCain asked Obama. "We need to encourage businesses."
Obama said his plan would cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans and raise them on only a small slice of the most high-income Americans, while McCain would give tax breaks to oil and gas companies.
"We both want to cut taxes," Obama, an Illinois senator, said. "The difference is who we want to cut taxes for."
The debate focused on domestic policy and the economy. Obama and McCain were seated at a table with moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News instead of standing at podiums as in the first debate.
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