Speaking in Dayton as he started a two-day bus tour of hotly contested Ohio, Obama said McCain's plan would force the government to absorb the full cost of renegotiating mortgages to prevent borrowers from losing their homes. Lenders should share some of the costs, he said.

The Democratic presidential candidate's campaign also criticized McCain's mortgage plan in a new 30-second ad to air nationally on cable TV.

Both candidates are competing hard for Ohio's 20 electoral votes, which were pivotal in President Bush's victory four years ago. Obama planned five Ohio rallies Thursday and today, and will return next week to Toledo to prepare for Wednesday's debate on Long Island, N.Y.

Bailout angst provides push for Libertarian Barr

WASHINGTON - Private markets fail, politicians from both parties jump to their rescue, and taxpayers get stuck with the bill. Libertarian candidate Bob Barr couldn't have scripted a better story line to argue that Republicans and Democrats are interchangeable - with a helpless addiction to spending.

Can Barr capitalize on it during the closing weeks of the presidential campaign?

Polls so far aren't registering a shift to the Libertarian candidate, in spite of widespread outrage over the $700 billion rescue package. The former GOP congressman from Georgia is languishing with about the same 1 percent share of support he's had for months.

However, Barr is sharpening his attacks on Republican nominee John McCain, hoping that fiscal conservatives frustrated over McCain's support for the bailout will join his anti-government campaign.

Voter registration boom favors Obama campaign

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - The surge in new voters that helped propel Barack Obama to his party's presidential nomination is carrying over to the general election - 9 million newly registered voters who are overwhelmingly Democratic and could add up to a big victory on Election Day.

If they show up.

In states where registration is recorded by party, including eight key states that could decide the election, voters have signed up Democratic in the past six months by a margin of nearly 4-to-1.

Simply registering voters, even when the numbers are skewed so heavily toward one party, is no guarantee of success.

Historically, voter turnout among new registrants has been low, and while candidates have months to run registration drives, they have only a tiny window - several days during early balloting, just hours on Election Day - to get out the vote.

Still, an Associated Press analysis of registration data found that if the millions of newly registered voters turn out at the same rate as in 2004 and cast ballots with their declared party of choice, Obama could have the votes he needs to wrest several battleground states away from the Republican Party and its nominee, Sen. John McCain.

NRA endorses McCain despite differences

WASHINGTON - The National Rifle Association on Thursday endorsed Republican presidential nominee John McCain despite differences with the Arizona senator on gun-show rules and campaign finance restrictions.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said the two agree on many issues important to the group.

"He's cast more than 60 votes in the Senate in support of the Second Amendment," LaPierre said.

The NRA's Political Victory Fund has spent more than $2.3 million opposing Democratic nominee Barack Obama, and it's spending is expected to grow before Election Day.

McCain says Obama link to ex-radical is issue

WAUKESHA, Wis. - Republican John McCain said Thursday that questions about Democratic rival Barack Obama's association with a former war protester linked to Vietnam-era bombings are part of a broader issue of honesty.

In his strongest personal criticism since his faltering campaign began casting Obama as an unknown and unacceptable candidate, McCain told supporters that Obama had not been truthful in describing his relationship with former radical William Ayers.

Loud cheers from 4,000 people gathered at a sports complex near Milwaukee greeted McCain's attacks over Ayers, who helped found the Weather Underground, a Vietnam protest group that bombed government buildings 40 years ago. Obama has pointed out that he was a child at the time and first met Ayers and his wife, ex-radical Bernadine Dohrn, a quarter-century later.

- The Associated Press

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