Make or break US election debate

Barack Obama and John McCain meet in their third and final televised debate tonight in what promises to be a make or break confrontation.

With just three weeks to go before the November 4 presidential election Republican John McCain has to gain ground on his opponent.

Obama has moved into a solid lead with the economic crisis focusing voter attention.

McCain attempted to regain ground with a coherent message over financial worries.

“And we will reduce the federal business tax rate from 35 per cent, the second highest in the world, to 25 per cent,” he said. “I am also proposing today that for those who are between jobs, we eliminate all taxes on unemployment benefits.”

After drawing criticism for earlier claiming the US economy was fundamentally strong, McCain outlined his economic proposals one day after Barack Obama set out his “economic rescue plan” for the middle class.

“If we are just giving them money, but we are not making sure that they are curbing some of the excessive risks that got us into this mess in the first place, then we are just continuing the same philosophy that has failed the American people so badly,” said Obama.

Obama has been steadily edging ahead in the opinion polls. In Michigan he scored a sixteen point lead. So the stakes are high for this final debate.

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