OLORADO SPRINGS (AFP) — John McCain cast himself as the defender of the middle class and the American value of rewarding hard work as he warned voters of his rival’s plans to "tax and spend."
With frontrunner Barack Obama off the campaign trail, McCain continued to try to tar the Democratic presidential hopeful as a secret socialist in a bid to sway voters 11 days before the November 4 election.
"He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs," McCain told a rally in Denver, Colorado.
"Senator Obama may say he’s trying to soak the rich, but it’s the middle class who are going to get put through the wringer, because a lot of his promised tax increase misses the target."
At issue is Obama’s plan to let temporary tax cuts expire for the top five percent of Americans in order to give tax breaks to everyone else.
Obama defended his plan in Indiana Thursday before flying to Hawaii to see his ailing grandmother.
"For the last eight years, we’ve given more and more to those with the most and hoped that prosperity would trickle down to everyone else. And guess what? It didn’t," Obama told supporters at a rally in Indianapolis.
"So it’s time to try something new. It’s time to grow this economy from the bottom-up. It’s time to invest in the middle-class again."
"John McCain calls that socialism. What he forgets is that just a few years ago, he himself said those (president George W.) Bush tax cuts were irresponsible."
McCain said raising taxes in a bad economy will "kill jobs," and warned that Democrats have already previewed their plans to "tax and spend."
"The answer to a slowing economy is not higher taxes, but that is exactly what is going to happen when the Democrats have total control of Washington," McCain. "We can’t let that happen."
National tracking polls have Obama up anywhere from four to 14 percentage points, with a solid lead in most battleground states.
But the gap has narrowed this week as McCain hammered away at Obama for telling an Ohio plumber — wary of the Democrat’s tax plans — that everyone is better off when you "spread the wealth around."
The campaign is holding up plumber Joe Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio as a symbol of the hopes of all Americans who own a business or dream of doing so one day.
McCain launched an ad this week titled "Sweat Equity," in which ordinary people declare: "I’m Joe the Plumber," and one man says: "Obama wants my sweat to pay for his trillion dollars in new spending."
McCain met with small business owners at a factory in Colorado Springs whom he called "the economic hope for the future."
"They don’t want anybody’s taxes raised," McCain told reporters.
"What they need is lower taxes and less government regulation of their business."
Taking a 36-hour break from campaigning, Obama spent Friday with his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, 85, who raised him for much of his childhood in Hawaii. He resumes campaigning Saturday in Nevada.
Dunham , nicknamed "Toot," who broke her hip earlier this month and suffers from osteoporosis, is Obama’s sole remaining link with his tight-knit immediate elder family after his mother died of cancer more than a decade ago.
"He said the other night — ‘You know, I got my toughness from Toot,’" Michelle Obama told a rally in Ohio. "Because she taught him with her quiet confidence and that love and support that he could do anything, just deep love and admiration."
In a speech that paid tribute to her own Chicago roots, Obama said her husband’s calls to fix the economy, repair the "broken" health care system and make university education more affordable were "personal" issues.
"This isn’t about politics. This is personal," she said. "And I know it is personal for every single one of us in this place."
The McCain campaign took advantage of Obama’s absence to roll out a policy address by vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin , the mother of a Down Syndrome baby, who vowed to improve education for children with special needs.
"Too often, even in our own day, children with special needs have been set apart and excluded. Too often, state and federal laws add to their challenges, instead of removing barriers and opening new paths of opportunity," she said.
"This attitude is a grave disservice to these beautiful children, to their families, and to our country — and I will work to change it."