McCain tries to use taxes to turn the tide in Virginia

If this election was a speech-making contest it would have been over before it started. McCain is still a halting speaker with a tendency to step on his words. But he has a biography that resonates with his supporters. Warm-up speaker after speaker stressed how McCain had risked his life for his country, so the people here could give up a couple of hours to turn voters out for him. In 2004, John Kerry won this county by 25 points and the McCain campaign knows that they need to stop Obama from racking up a margin here that is so big that they can’t overcome it in the rest of the state.

The theme of service continued when Cindy McCain introduced her husband by pointing out that the McCains and the Palins currently have three children on active service.