John McCain declares self the underdog in Missouri

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Although Missouri has gone red in the past two presidential elections, Republican presidential candidate John McCain cast himself as the underdog here to Democrat Barack Obama as he made his second stop in the state this week.

McCain, who held a fundraiser Tuesday night in St. Louis County, came to Kansas City on Thursday for a town-hall-style forum that touched on economic troubles, high gas prices and the war in Iraq, among other things. He declared the economy the most urgent issue and said Congress should act quickly to allow offshore oil drilling to help relieve the pressure of high energy prices.

Both presidential candidates have intensified their focus on Missouri as the November election draws near.

McCain said the key to claiming Missouri's 11 electoral votes is to focus on the people losing their jobs and homes and frustrated by high gas prices.

"I know that we are the underdog here," McCain told reporters on his campaign bus. "I know it is the heartland of America and people are hurting, and I've got to draw out a very specific plan to restore the economy here in Missouri."

McCain repeated his call for lower taxes, including a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax, which would provide financial relief to motorists but also would mean less money for highway repairs. He also emphasized his support for more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as part of an energy package that includes new nuclear power plants and a greater emphasis on alternative energy.

President Bush earlier this week lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling and challenged Congress to do the same. McCain's comments followed up on that.

"I urge the Congress to act immediately to allow and encourage offshore drilling of oil and natural gas deposits off our coast," McCain said. "If we are able to -- and we will be able to -- identify large gas and oil deposits off our coast, that will have a beneficial effect on the future price of oil."

Obama has opposed offshore drilling, and House Democrats have instead been pushing legislation they say would spur drilling on already available lands.

Bridgette Williams, the president of the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO, said McCain's economic plans are "little more than a carbon copy of the failed Bush agenda that has led to a rapidly collapsing economy."

Bush won Missouri both in 2000 and 2004, continuing Missouri's trend of picking the presidential winner. Only once in the past 100 years have Missourians favored the losing candidate.

McCain narrowly won Missouri's presidential primary in February and carried Kansas City, though the city cast far more votes for Obama in the Democratic primary than for all candidates combined in the Republican primary. To win Missouri in November, McCain likely will need to fare better in the Kansas City suburbs -- which he lost to Mitt Romney in the primary -- while turning out a strong vote in traditionally Republican-leaning southwest Missouri.

The latter will mean appealing to social conservatives. McCain drew applause Thursday when he declared: "I am proud of protecting and advocating the rights of the unborn."

More than once, McCain questioned Obama's experience and background to lead the nation in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. "He doesn't understand warfare," McCain told reporters.

The recent media poll showed more Missourians trust McCain to handle the effort against terrorism, but more people trust Obama on the economy, energy policy and health care.

In the audience Thursday were two brothers from Liberty divided on both the Iraq war and McCain.

David Adair, 18, has enlisted in the Army and is preparing to leave soon for basic training. He hopes to be deployed to either Afghanistan or Iraq and trusts McCain as his future commander in chief.

"I like the fact he's going to continue the war in Iraq," Adair said. "He's a man of action, from what I've seen, he doesn't take time talking about it."

But his older brother, Cory Hernandez, 20, came to the McCain event undecided on whom to vote for while leaning a bit toward Obama. When he left, he still was unsure whom he would support, but the Iraq war figures prominently in his thinking.

"I would like to see us out of there," Hernandez said. "That would be terrible to lose my brother."