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Obama rules the airwaves

Democrat Barack Obama hit White House rival John McCain with a prime-time TV onslaught as he vied to clinch victories in battleground states.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 23:56 October 30, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
  • Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama hopes to become the United States' first black president.

Orlando, Florida: Democrat Barack Obama hit White House rival John McCain with a prime-time TV onslaught as he vied to clinch victories in battleground states in the climactic run-up to next Tuesday's vote.

After his 30-minute appeal on national television late on Wednesday, which cost at least $3 million (Dh11 million) to air, Obama held a midnight rally near Orlando, Florida, with former president Bill Clinton in the latest burial of Democratic hatchets.

The programme, running on several major television networks simultaneously on Wednesday night, was an extraordinary last-minute effort to win over undecided voters, made possible by his huge financial advantage over Republican John McCain. McCain derided the event as a "gauzy, feel-good commercial" paid for with broken promises.

Obama beat Clinton's wife Hillary to the Democratic nomination, but the ex-president delivered a fulsome endorsement at his first joint campaign event with the party's 2008 champion in front of 35,000 supporters in Kissimmee.

Do you think people vote keeping just their personal interests in mind? If given a choice between Obama and Mccain, who would you vote for and why?

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