McCain’s final push in Virginia

Springfield, Virginia

I’m at the final McCain rally in Virginia before polling day. The polls here have Obama ahead by a quite significant margin but the McCain campaign is hoping that its get out the vote operation and Democratic talk of cutting the defence budget by 25 percent can turn things around in this military-heavy state.

Interestingly McCain has chosen Northern Virginia, an area regarded as an Obama stronghold, for his final event in the state. It is a beautiful day and the mood among the crowd is upbeat and defiant; a national tracking poll which put McCain up by one has lifted spirits.

There is a lot of abortion literature being handed out with folk being urged to pass it on at church tomorrow. The rallying cry from these volunteers is let’s keep the presidency above Obama’s pay grade, a reference to his remark that deciding when a foetus gets human rights is above his pay grade.