AP Photo-Cincinnati, OH

CINCINNATI, OH - John McCain did not mince any words in characterizing Barack Obama at his final rally on Wednesday.

“He will say anything to get elected,” he said to more than 10,000 supporters at an airport hangar event alongside Sarah Palin.

While McCain has argued for months that Obama makes policy decisions based on political motivations and has been disingenuous with the American people, today’s statement was his most blunt critique of his rival on the issue of honesty.

The criticism came as McCain took aim at the Obama campaign’s disclosure that it recently added an employment requirement to his mortgage tax credit proposal.

“This week, we learned that Senator Obama is concerned that his tax plan is seen, is seen as welfare, so he just added a work requirement. 13 days to go in the election and he changed his tax plan because the American people had learned the truth about it and they didn’t like it,” McCain said. “That’s another example my friends. He will say anything to get elected. So now, if you are unemployed, Senator Obama’s plan won’t help you at all. And that’s the problem with Senator Obama’s approach on taxes. He is more concerned about creating a tax plan that is quote ‘fair’ than creating a plan that creates jobs and grows our economy.”

Obama campaign economic adviser Austan Goolsbee told a Council on Foreign Relations forum in DC Tuesday that they privately added the provision in recent weeks in response to previous McCain attacks that the credit was tantamount to welfare.

“They started saying this was welfare..so, just so they would absolutely not be able to say that, we decided that for the last two percent we’ll simply add a work requirement,” Goolsbee said, but acknowledged that the campaign never publicly advertised the latest shift to their tax plan.

The McCain campaign is casting this change as the latest politically expedient Obama campaign shift.

GOFFSTOWN, NH –  John McCain returned to his adopted home of New Hampshire Wednesday and sharpened his anti-tax language as he called on Granite Staters to help the underdog again defy the odds and win on election day.

Referring to Obama’s economic priorities as “skewed,” McCain argued that his rival’s approach to taxes–to “confiscate wealth” in order to redistribute it–puts him out of touch with most Americans.

“As my opponent sees it, there is a strict limit to your earnings and wealth, and it’s for politicians to decide. The proper amount of wealth is not what you can earn, but what government will let you keep,” McCain told about 1,000 supporters at a hockey arena on the campus of St. Anselm’s College. “(Obama) has talked…about how, in our day, ‘the distribution of wealth is even more skewed, and levels of inequity are now higher.’ What are really skewed in all of this are my opponent’s priorities.”

He added that Obama “talks about our economy in a detached and academic way, forgetting that the goal is not to redistribute wealth but to create it.”

McCain also made a personal appeal at the top of his remarks where he talked about his warm feelings for New Hampshire–the state that helped propel him from longshot to the nomination during the primary–and called on them to get out the vote November 4th.

“I love you. I love new Hampshire. I know I can count on you…to again come from behind and take a victory and bring it all the way to Washington DC next January,” McCain said to cheers. “I have learned a lot over the years from the people of this state and I know one thing for certain. It doesn’t matter what pundits think or how confidence my opponent is–the people of New Hampshire make their own decisions…more than once they have ignored the polls and the pundits and brought me across the finish line first.”

McCain also tweaked his horserace language today chiding Obama for his planned primetime network address to the nation.

“My opponent’s looking pretty confident, confident these days. He’ll be addressing the nation soon. He’s got another of those big stadium spectacles in the works. But acting like the election is over, it won’t let him take away your chance to have the final say in this election,” he added.

CONCORD, NC — As the debate over tax policy takes center stage in the closing days of the election, John McCain is getting closer and closer to explicitly calling his Democratic rival a “socialist.”

McCain invoked the word twice during his weekly radio address this morning and is repeatedly referring to Barack Obama’s tax plan as “welfare” and a “government giveaway” on the campaign trail.

“(Obama) believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that help us all make more of it. Joe (’the plumber’ Wurzelbacher), in his plainspoken way, said this sounded a lot like socialism. And a lot of Americans are thinking along those same lines,” McCain said in his weekly radio address Saturday. “At least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are upfront about their objectives. They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Senator Obama. Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut it’s just another government giveaway.”

At a rally today in the Tar Heel state, McCain did not repeat the word but continued the assault on the Obama tax plan and the Democrat’s pledge to provide tax cuts for 95% of Americans–noting that a good portion of Americans don’t pay income taxes.

“How do you cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans, when more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now? How do you reduce, how do you reduce, how do you reduce the number zero?,” McCain asked at his rally in suburban Charlotte in front of more than 2,000 supporters. “Well, that’s the key to Barack Obama’s whole plan: Since you can’t reduce taxes on those who pay zero, the government will write them all checks called a tax credit.”

He added that Obama promises “phony tax cuts” as opposed to “policies that grow our economy and create jobs and opportunities for all Americans.”

Sarah Palin has also adopted the new talking points on the campaign trail in recent days by also using Wurzelbacher’s quote to invoke the word “socialism.”

McCain has frequently mentioned National Journal magazine’s calculation that Obama has the most liberal voting record in the US Senate and referred to his rival’s “extreme voting record,” but he has been reluctant thus far to accuse Obama of following Marxist principles.

Asked during an interview with the Kansas City Star in July, McCain did not shoot down the accusation.

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In a Friday evening move, the McCain campaign has publicly released a Cindy McCain’s tax returns for the past 2 years. Mrs McCain has been filing separately from her husband throughout their marriage, according to the campaign. She is an heiress to her father’s fortune for beer distribution. Sen. McCain’s tax returns were made public earlier this year.

2007 Total Income: $4,197,028.00

2007 Total Taxes: $1,138,189.00

2006 Total Income: $6,066,431.00

2006 Total Taxes: $1,746, 445.00

MIAMI –McCain continued his defense of America’s most famous plumber Friday telling South Florida supporters that “Jose el Plomero” is being unfairly attacked by the Obama campaign for asking an important question.

“Senator Obama showed up in Joe’s driveway to ask for his vote, and you know what Joe did? Joe asked Senator Obama a tough question. I’m glad he did it. I think Senator Obama could use a few more tough questions,” McCain told nearly 7,000 supporters, including a significant Cuban cheering section today at Florida International University.

“The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe…he wasn’t recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks,” McCain said.

In an appeal to the large Cuban population in South Florida and at his rally today, McCain also translated Joe the Plumber into Spanish.

Upon bringing up Joe for the first time, McCain called him “Jose el plomero” once before returning to his English name. “We are gonna fight for Joe. We are gonna fight for him my friend,” McCain declared. In another South Florida-specific appeal, the GOP nominee also specifically attacked Obama today on his pledge to meet unconditionally with Raul Castro at a presidential debate last year drawing huge cheers from the crowd.

For the second day in a row, McCain is using Joe Wurzelbacher’s impromptu exchange with Obama about taxes on the stump as jumping off point to attack the Democrat’s tax policy. He also compared Obama’s tax policy to welfare.

“Senator Obama says that he wanted to spread your wealth around. You know what? He coulda had a simple answer to Joe’s question. All he had to do to say to Joe the plumber and millions of small business people around this the country, (was) ‘I won’t raise your taxes,’” McCain said. “But he couldn’t do that because he is gonna raise your taxes…my friends When politicians talk about taking your money and spreading it around, you’d better hold onto your wallet.”

He added, “Senator Obama claims that wants to give a tax break to the middle class, but not only did he vote for higher taxes on the middle class in the Senate, his plan gives away your tax dollars to those who don’t pay taxes. That’s not a tax cut, that’s welfare.”

McCain, who has been trailing Obama in recent Sunshine State polls, also declared today that “there is no doubt whatsoever we will win the state of Florida.”

JACKSONVILLE, FL - Protesters are as common to the campaign trail as supporters - from those waving McCain signs at the entrance of events, to the more subtle passersby who flash the thumbs down gesture (or worse) along the motorcade route, to the occasional group that infiltrates and interrupts an event.

But this afternoon, someone went all out to get his or her message out at Obama’s rally in northern Florida.

A single engine plane pulling a banner behind it - like those you’d see at the shore - circled Obama’s rally, which was held at Metropolitan Park along the St. John’s River in Jacksonville.

The protester’s message: “Raising taxes is not patriotic.”

While Obama did assure the crowd no less than four times that he would cut taxes, it’s unclear if he actually saw the plane, which buzzed overhead for the first few minutes of the event. “Don’t let them run the okey doke on you. You heard of the okey doke? Don’t let ‘em bamboozle you. Don’t be hoodwinked. I will cut taxes,” he said, not referencing the plane.

STERLING, VA — The rise of YouTube and the need for cable news station to fill programming hours has led to a proliferation of internet-only ads on both sides of the aisle — videos usually designed to drive a particular attack but, unlike regular ads, never put on television.

It’s an attempt to get free media attention — and to get cable news stations to debate the merits of the attack, thereby distributing it more widely into the political bloodstream without spending a dime on actual airtime.

The McCain camp has had some doozies this cycle, most notably an ad mockingly comparing Barack Obama to Moses from “The Ten Commandments.” This morning, they turned their sites on Joe Biden — hoping to keep his claim that wealthy Americans who’ll see their taxes raised under an Obama administration should be willing to pay more out of a sense of patriotism.

The ad is clever, but don’t expect to see it on TV any time soon. Besides the fact that keeping it online saves money, campaigns don’t want too many negative spots where most voters can see them — hoping to avoid backlash that can come with the perception of excessive negativity.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA — Senior McCain campaign officials tell Fox News that they plan to launch an all out assault on Obama on the economy with McCain, Palin and various surrogates charging that Obama plans to raise taxes on virtually all Americans.

As part of that effort, the latest McCain campaign ad, “Dome,” accuses the Democrat of supporting a recipe for economic disaster. (above)

“When our economy’s in crisis, a big government casts a big shadow on us all. Obama and his liberal Congressional allies want a massive government, billions in spending increases, wasteful pork,” a narrator in the ad intones. “And, we would pay — painful income taxes, skyrocketing taxes on life savings, electricity and home heating oil. Can your family afford that?”

Obama officials take issue with that characterization, calling it a bald-faced lie, and independent groups like the Tax Policy Center have conducted analyses showing that Obama’s plan will actually provide greater tax relief to the middle class.

Regardless, the move to paint Obama at a traditional liberal tax and spender will move forward as McCain endeavors to stay competitive on who can best address the economy–where he has made progress in recent polls. A Gallup poll from late August also showed that 53% of Americans expect Obama to raise their taxes while only 34% expect McCain to the same. Additionally, recent polling has shown that Obama’s once 20 point + advantage on the economy has shrunk to single digits.

The renewed push was on full display last night as McCain talked taxes in the Wolverine State, where voters have seen their state taxes go up.

“As nobody knows better than here in the state of Michigan, raising taxes is exactly the wrong approach and no one knows better,” McCain said. “Today Michigan’s unemployment went up to almost 9 percent. If you like what tax increases have done to the economy here in Michigan, you’re going to love Senator Obama’s tax increases and we won’t do it. Governor Palin will not raise anyone’s taxes. The worst thing you can do is raise taxes in difficult times.”

McCain and Palin hit rallies in Iowa and Wisconsin Thursday, two states where Obama currently holds an advantage in the polls, where they are expected to continue to hammer that message.

WILMINGTON, DE — Joe Biden’s campaign released 10 years of tax returns for the Delaware Senator, in an effort to pressure GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin to do the same.

Biden made $319,853 in 2007, including $71,000 in royalties for his memoir “Promises to Keep.” But that still puts him at the bottom of the list of wealthiest senators — a lack of status Biden is proud of, even if he jokingly says he’s not.

” I am listed as the second poorest man in the congress. I’m not proud of it, because that’s what happens when you get elected when you’re 29 years old,” he recently told a crowd in Columbia, MO. “They listed my net worth and Rush Limbaugh said, ‘how can this guy manage our economy, he doesn’t have any money?’ I thought the deal was when you go to the government, you’re not supposed to make money.”

What net worth Biden does have is in his property — a large home on a lake, as well as a carriage house for his mother just up the driveway. “I have a real big house,” he says. “They tell me if I sold my house I’d have $700k. but if I wold my house, guess what? I’d have no place to live.”

He’s been criticized for real estate deals that the RNC believes have the whiff of impropriety — selling his long time home for a big profit to an MBNA executive who contributed to his campaigns, and buying his current lot for the same price the previous owner paid when he bought it some years before. But Biden staffers vehemently deny any wrongdoing, and both deals appear to be on the up and up.

While no truly interesting tidbits popped up on first review of the returns, they did validate one of Biden’s claims on the trail. “I don’t own a single stock, bond, don’t have a savings account,” he said in Columbia. “I put everything in my home, my mom, and my kids.”

LIMA, OH– John McCain accused his Democratic rival of misleading the public Thursday, repeatedly referring to Obama’s “words” as empty and misleading when it comes to energy and the economy.

“The bottom line is that Senator Obama’s words, for all their eloquence and passion, don’t mean all that much. And that’s the problem in our nation’s capital today. It is not just the Bush Administration, and it’s not just the Democratic Congress,” McCain told more than 600 potential voters at a town hall meeting in central Ohio. “Washington is full of talented talkers, my friends. And unfortunately, on issues big and small, what Senator Obama says and what he does are often two different things.”

McCain then again took aim at Obama’s suggestion last week that properly inflating car tires could help save Americans significantly on energy.

“He actually thinks that raising taxes on oil is going to bring down the price at the pump. He is claiming that putting air in your tires is the equivalent is the equivalent of new offshore drilling. That is not an energy plan my friends, that is a public service announcement,” he said.

But during a media availability aboard his plane today before he heads on vacation Friday Obama said the tire pressure attack line proves Republicans lack solutions on energy and McCain is “misleading” Americans.

“I thought it was a good example of the fact that the other side’s not serious about real energy savings that can push down the price of gas, they’re interested in scoring political points…as we’re speaking truthfully about what we need to do to meet our challenges,” Obama told reporters aboard his plane.

McCain also stood his ground on voting against the 2005 Bush energy bill, stating that Obama may be “a little bit confused” since he is attacking the Republican for espousing Bush-like policies when it was Obama who voted for the bill.

“I spoke up against Congress and the administration and when they gave us an energy bill with more giveaways to big oil and really no solution to our energy problems,” McCain stated. “Senator Obama voted for that bill and its big oil giveaways. I know he hasn’t been in the senate that long but even in the real world voting for something means you support it and voting against something means you oppose it.”

Also one other minor note today. McCain scrapped one misleading figure he usually cites to slam Obama for increasing taxes on lower middle class Americans.

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