Fuming McCain lets off some steam

US Election:John McCain was standing in front of a giant pizza with his name on it in Orlando's American Pie restaurant, surrounded by friends and admirers - and he was trembling with rage, writes Denis Stauntonin Florida.

"If I have to follow him to the gates of Hell, I will find Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice," he roared, glaring at the startled well-wishers who had waited an hour to see him.

As Florida prepares to vote today in a primary that could determine the Republican presidential nominee, McCain wants everyone to know how angry he is, about pork barrel spending, Democrats who want to pull out of Iraq - and Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Polls show McCain and Romney in a dead heat and the crossfire between the two candidates has become more intense in recent days, with McCain claiming that Romney had once supported a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

Romney responded by accusing McCain of dishonesty and demanding an apology, adding that the Arizona senator had been wrong on everything from immigration to campaign finance reform and knew little about the economy.

"No one needs to give me a briefing on the economy," Romney told supporters on Sunday. "I won't need to choose a vice-president that understands the economy - because I understand the economy."

McCain was joined at American Pie by Florida senator Mel Martinez, who endorsed him last week, along with the state's popular governor, Charlie Christ, who is credited with a formidable get-out-the-vote operation. Independent Democratic senator Joe Lieberman was there too, telling Republicans that he was crossing party lines to support McCain because he was the only candidate ready to be commander-in-chief.

When Florida defied Republican and Democratic party leaders by scheduling its primary in January, the Democrats stripped the state of all its delegates and that party's candidates agreed not to campaign in the primary. The Republicans cut Florida's delegate count in half but all four leading candidates are fighting hard in the last big state to vote before Super Tuesday.

McCain has been attracting huge crowds, with 1,500 people coming to see him at Lady Lake on Sunday but Romney has more money to spend on television ads, an important advantage in such a big state. Romney also enjoys the support of influential conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, who has been warning Republicans against voting for McCain or Mike Huckabee.

"I'm here to tell you if either of these two guys get the nomination, it's going to destroy the Republican Party, it's going to change it forever, be the end of it," he said.

Huckabee, whose campaign is running short on cash, is running well behind the two front runners and battling for third place with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani has spent more time in Florida than any other candidate, hoping that the state would catapult him into front-runner status ahead of Super Tuesday on February 5th. Ignoring most of the early primaries and caucuses, Giuliani has staked everything on Florida and if the pollsters know anything at all, he looks set to lose heavily.

Nothing seems to be going right for him and an event in Orlando billed as "Women for Rudy" ended up as an almost entirely male affair with a handful of women gathered at the front. "I suppose if you want to attract men, the best way is to advertise an event for the ladies," Giuliani's warm-up woman told the roomful of suits.

After a lifetime spent baring his teeth and going for the jugular, Giuliani has unveiled a new, smiling persona in the final days of the Florida campaign.

"This election should be about positive things," he told a small group of reporters after the Orlando event, before explaining, "the reason I'm being positive is that I think that's the way to win".

Actor Jon Voight, who has been travelling around Florida with Giuliani, told me that he doesn't believe the polls that show his candidate with only 13 per cent in Florida, compared to about 30 per cent for Romney and McCain. "I think we have to wait and see," he said.

"I think these polls have been quite wrong from the beginning so I suspect that these will be wrong as well." Voight, whose films include Deliverance, about a group of urban professionals who get lost on a canoe trip in backwoods America, acknowledged, however, that Giuliani could find himself up the creek if he loses Florida.

"I would say it's extremely important," he said.