Hanoverton(Ohio): Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani rallied support for John McCain Friday as the Republican presidential nominee mounted a campaign blitz in the crucial battleground of Ohio.
The hero of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Giuliani told a school gymnasium rally packed with several hundred supporters that McCain was the only candidate capable of reviving the economy and keeping America secure.
"John McCain is going to fight for you - he's going to fight to see that your taxes are low and that the economy recovers," Giuliani said, claiming Democratic candidate Barack Obama's policies would be "disastrous."
"They want to raise taxes and increase spending. That would be a disaster in this economy," said Giuliani, whose own bid for the Republican nomination ended in early defeat before he pledged his support to McCain.
Friday's event took place at United High School in Hanoverton, situated in a reliably Republican rural community just four days out from the historic November 4 election. A cavalcade of tractors was parked on the approach to the school carrying placards including one which read: "Pro-life, pro-gun, pro-America."
Meanwhile Giuliani flagged up former Navy pilot McCain's war record as evidence of his security credentials. "This is the only one of the four people in the election who has actually fought for you," said Giuliani. "I believe that America needs a president that all of the young people in the US can look up to," he added.
The rally was part of a two-day whistle-stop bus tour of Ohio that will culminate with a joint event later Friday featuring Hollywood actor turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Columbus.
McCain meanwhile insisted he remained competitive in the election despite some poll projections suggesting he could be headed for a heavy defeat.
"The pundits have written us off like they have done before but we're closing my friends but we're going to win in Ohio," McCain said. "We're a few points down but we're coming back, and we're coming back strong."
Ohio is a must-win state for McCain, 72, who is trailing Obama in a clutch of pivotal battlegrounds won by outgoing President George W. Bush in 2004.
