US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: BARACK OBAMA has rejected Republican claims that he is too inexperienced to deal with an international crisis and played down a suggestion by his running mate, Joe Biden, that America's rivals abroad would "test" the Democrat within months of taking office.
"I think that Joe sometimes engages in rhetorical flourishes, but I think that his core point is that the next administration's going to be tested regardless of who it is," Mr Obama said.
"The next administration is going to be inheriting a whole host of really big problems."
Mr Obama was speaking after a discussion of foreign policy with a group of his national security advisers in Richmond as new polls offered conflicting signs about the presidential race. Mr Obama said he would introduce fundamental change to American foreign policy if he is elected, working to restore alliances and to craft international responses to crises.
"We cannot afford four more years of policies that have failed to adjust to our new century," he said. "We're not going to defeat a terrorist network that operates in 80 countries through an occupation of Iraq. We're not going to deny the nuclear ambitions of Iran by refusing to pursue direct diplomacy alongside our allies.
"We're not going to secure the American people and promote American values with empty bluster. It's time for a fundamental change, and that's why I'm running for president."
An NBC poll has given Mr Obama a 10-point lead and a Fox survey has put him nine points ahead, but two tracking polls suggest that John McCain may be closing the gap.
The Associated Press poll puts the Democrat just one point ahead among likely voters with 44 per cent to Mr McCain's 43 per cent. An Investors Business Dailypoll, which came closest to predicting the outcome of the 2004 presidential race, shows a sudden tightening of Mr Obama's lead to 3.7 per cent from 6 per cent.
Republicans believe Mr McCain is having some success in attacking the Democrat over his tax plans, characterising them as government-sponsored giveaways aimed at redistributing wealth.
Mr Obama hit back yesterday, telling supporters in Richmond that the heart of his tax plan was a proposal to reverse President George Bush's tax cuts for the highest earners.
"It's true that I want to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans and go back to the rate they paid under Bill Clinton. John McCain calls that socialism. What he forgets is that just a few years ago, he himself said those Bush tax cuts were irresponsible.
"He said he couldn't 'in good conscience' support a tax cut where the benefits went to the wealthy at the expense of 'middle class Americans who most need tax relief'. Well, he was right then, and I am right now."
Mr Obama drew applause when he referred to Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher, saying that he would actually cut taxes for the plumber, unlike Mr McCain, who has made the plumber a star of his campaign.
"He's not fighting for Joe the Plumber," Mr Obama said. "He's fighting for Joe the hedge fund manager. John McCain likes to talk about Joe the Plumber, but he's in cahoots with Joe the CEO, so don't be fooled."
Mr McCain was in New Hampshire yesterday, a state that voted for John Kerry in 2004 but where the Republican believes he has a chance next month.
He reminded supporters that his victory in the state's primary in January revived a campaign most pundits had written off months before.
"It doesn't matter what the pundits think or how confident my opponent is," Mr McCain said, "the people of New Hampshire make their own decisions and, more than once, they've ignored the polls and the pundits, and brought me across the finish line first."
Campaigning in Nevada yesterday, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin told evangelical Christian leader James Dobson in an interview that she is "hard-core pro-lifer" and suggested that the election is "in God's hands".
Ms Palin, who is a committed Christian, said she was not discouraged by polls showing the Republican ticket to be behind.
"To me, it motivates us, makes us work that much harder," she said, "and it also strengthens my faith, because I'm going to know, at the end of the day, putting this in God's hands, that the right thing for America will be done at the end of the day on November 4th. So I'm not discouraged at all."