Republican presidential candidate John McCain will speak out for change in America from a landmark of the US civil rights movement today as he sets off on a trip aimed at appealing to centrist voters.
While Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battle for their party's presidential nomination, Mr McCain will spend the week in economically struggling places where Republican candidates do not normally go.
The Arizona senator begins his tour with a speech at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where armed Alabama police attacked more than 500 civil rights demonstrators on March 7th, 1965, a day known as "Bloody Sunday."
His trip will take him from the rural "Black Belt" of Alabama, to the hard-hit steel town of Youngstown, Ohio, the Appalachia region of Kentucky, and hurricane-stricken New Orleans.
"There must be no forgotten places in America, whether they have been ignored for long years by the sins of indifference and injustice, or have been left behind as the world grew smaller and more economically interdependent," he will say in Selma.
At a time when "change" is a watchword in the Democrats' argument that they should take over the White House after eight years of Republican President George W. Bush, Mr McCain will say change is needed but not the kind that the Democrats offer.
"The time for pandering and false promises is over. It is time for action. It is time for change; the right kind of change," he will say. He will argue for limits on the federal government, rather than "policies that empower government to make our choices for us."
Meanwhile, figures released last night show Senator Obama raised more than $42.8 million (€27.1 million) in campaign donations last month.
The money Mr Obama raised in March was less than the $55 million (€34.9 million) his campaign brought in during February. The February total was an all-time high for any presidential candidate during a primary and the March number, while lower, was the second highest.
The Illinois senator faces a showdown with rival Senator Hillary Clinton in tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary.
Figures for Mrs Clinton's March fundraising are not out yet. A campaign source said earlier this month the New York senator expected to raise about $20 million (€12.7 million).
Agencies