FLAGSTAFF, Arizona, (AFP) – With poll numbers slipping, Republican John McCain on Saturday struggled to inject fresh energy into his White House campaign a little over four weeks before the US presidential elections.
As the clock ticks down to November 4, McCain has yet to seize the upper hand from his Democratic rival Barack Obama and has been left trailing in the polls.
Even a gutsy debate performance by Republican VP pick Sarah Palin late Thursday, in which she performed better than expected against her Democratic rival Joseph Biden, appears to not have been enough to turn the race around.
On Thursday the McCain campaign pulled out of Michigan, effectively surrendering the midwestern state to the Democrats, to focus instead on six swing states.
And with more bad news on the economic front, McCain was to retreat to his Arizona ranch for the weekend, in a highly unusual disappearing act at the height of the campaign.
Missouri, where Thursday's debate was held, is one of the key states in play -- along with Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana and Ohio -- and Republicans there acknowledged there was work to be done.
"Senator McCain has to win Missouri to win the White House. So there is a strong commitment from the McCain-Palin campaign to make sure that we deliver Missouri," said the party's state executive director Jared Craighead
