The folks who crowded into the bleachers and onto the football field at Green High School near Akron didn't care that Barack Obama still has a slight lead in the polls. The message they were waiting to hear was coming from John McCain. It was the same message that has been coming into their living rooms in the latest McCain ad.
"I'm Joe the plumber, I'm joe the plumber, I'm joe the plumber.; Obama wants my sweat to pay for his trillion dollars in new spending. I'm Joe the plumber.Barack Obama. Higher taxes, more spending, not ready."
McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, seized on ad's message that Obama favors redistributing wealth.
Palin: "It doesn't sound like many of you are going to be supporting "Barack the W\wealth spreader" in this election."
McCain said that Obama's plan would take money from working people and give it to those who who don't work and don't pay taxes.
McCain: "That's the key to Barack Obama's whole plan. Since you can't reduce tax to those who pay zero, the government will write them all checks called a tax credit, and the treasury will have to cover those checks, by taxing other people, including a lot of folks just like Joe."
Neither McCain nor Palin mentioned former Bush secretary of State, General Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama last weekend. Instead, McCain used Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden's remarks on Sunday, that the world will quote "test Obama in the first six months," to insist the he, not the Illinois senator is fit to be president.
McCain: "Senator Biden referred to how Jack Kennedy was tested in the Cuban missile crisis. I had a little personal experience on that. I was a pilot on board the USS E nterprise. I know how close we came to a nuclear war, and I will not be a president that needs to be tested."
Since the last debate, McCain was behind Obama in polls in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania by at least eight points.However, in a nationwide polls by the the Associated press and Washington Post, released Wednesday, Obama has just a slight lead. McCain supporter Gaynelle Mosely thinks the polls are fixed to depress turnout for McCain.
Mosely: "I don't believe in polls, I think everything is rigged."
Sisters Moseley and Louise Keesler aren't happy about their shared belief that this election, like Bush v. Gore, will end up in the courts.. And they're not too happy about the way the media treats Sarah Palin either.
Mosely: "I did watch Saturday night live or part of it."
Keesler: "I gotta say that our mother was a Gibson. And I hope we're not related to Charlie Gibson."
Mosely: "Me too."
Country stars Lee Greenwood and Gretchen Wilson were part of a two hour warmup before McCain, Palin, their spouses and Palin daughters Willow and Piper took the stage.
The crowd sang along with Greenwoods' athem "God bless the USA". And they cheered Wilson when she dedicated the 70s hit "Barracuda" by the rock group Heart to Palin , despite the Heart's well publicized objections to the use of the song by the McCain/Palin campaign.
Ironically, in this race where candidates fight for the allegiance of the little guy, the Barracuda in the song is a greedy big businessman.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3