JOHN McCAIN has told supporters that he will overturn Barack Obama's poll lead over the next three weeks and will fight in the White House for a new direction for the United States.
In a tough new campaign speech in Virginia Beach, the Republican candidate acknowledged the state of the presidential race but insisted that it was too early to write him off.
"We have 22 days to go, we're six points down. The national media has written us off," he said.
"Senator Obama is measuring the drapes and planning with Speaker [ Nancy] Pelosi and Senator [ Harry] Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labour elections and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we've got them just where we want them."
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll gives Mr Obama a 10- point lead among likely voters as enthusiasm for Mr McCain fades, even among his own supporters. New polls also show Mr Obama advancing in key battleground states, with an 11-point lead in Pennsylvania and a 4.1 lead in Ohio.
Mr McCain has also been slipping in Missouri and West Virginia, which have until now been safely in the Republican column.
He said yesterday, however, that Americans faced a national crisis that demanded a leader with his experience and a fighter with his pedigree.
"The next president won't have time to get used to the office. He won't have the luxury of studying up on the issues before he acts. He will have to act immediately and, to do that, he will need experience, courage, judgment and a bold plan of action to take this country in a new direction," he said.
"We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change . . . The hour is late; our troubles are getting worse; our enemies watch. We have to act immediately. We have to change direction now. We have to fight."
Both Mr McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have toned down their personal attacks on Mr Obama in recent days as polls show voters rejecting the negative tone of the campaign. Yesterday, Mr McCain dwelt on his own personal story, recalling his family's tradition of military service and referring to his own experience of captivity in Vietnam as he urged Americans to banish fear.
"I know what fear feels like. It's a thief in the night who robs your strength. I know what hopelessness feels like. It's an enemy who defeats your will. I felt those things once before. I will never let them in again. I'm an American and I choose to fight."
The Obama campaign dismissed Mr McCain's speech as a political assessment of where he is in the polls rather than an agenda for renewing the US economy.
"The American people know that this election isn't about who's up or who's down, it's about who will change the disastrous Bush-McCain economic policies of the last eight years," the campaign said.
Mr Obama yesterday unveiled new economic proposals, including a three-month moratorium on home foreclosures, a tax credit for businesses who take on new workers in the US and a fund to help local authorities to finance infrastructure projects.
"It's a plan that begins with one word that's on everyone's mind, and it's spelled J-O-B-S," he told supporters in Ohio.
Mr Obama said that although many Americans were forced to borrow to pay for day-to-day expenses, the current financial crisis highlighted the need to return to greater financial responsibility.
"Once we get past the present emergency, which requires immediate new investments, we have to break that cycle of debt. Our long-term future requires that we do what's necessary," he said.