Republican presidential nominee John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama on Monday attacked each other's economic plans as wrong for the current downturn as they launched an eight-day sprint to Election Day.
Trailing in the polls, Mr McCain appeared with a team of economic advisers at a Cleveland hotel and vowed to quickly take steps to restore confidence in the wilting US stock market, keep people in their homes and create jobs if elected on November 4th.
Mr Obama, enjoying a lead in national polls and in many battleground states, said in a speech to be delivered in Canton, Ohio, that it was time to "turn the page" from policies pushed by the outgoing Bush administration.
The two candidates were making their case in Ohio, a state that has been critical to Republican presidential victories in the last two elections.
Mr Obama holds a lead in Ohio and in several other states that President George W. Bush won in 2004, putting Arizona Sen. McCain in a perilous position.
Mr Obama held steady with a 5-point lead over McCain among likely US voters nationally in a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby national tracking poll released on Monday.
Mr McCain said electing Mr Obama would leave a "dangerous threesome" of Democrats in charge of the US government, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who would need to raise taxes to pay for ambitious spending plans.
"This election comes down to how you want your hard-earned money spent. Do you want to keep it and invest it in your future, or have it taken by the most liberal person to ever run for the presidency and the Democratic leaders who have been running Congress for the past two years," he said.
Fresh from huge rallies in Colorado on Sunday, Illinois Mr Obama laid blame for the deepening financial crisis on Mr Bush and said Mr McCain's economic approach would mirror the president's.
He took aim at Mr McCain's proposal for cuts in corporate tax rates and his opposition to rolling back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans, saying they represented a "tired, old" approach on the economy.
"In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street," Mr Obama was to say in Canton.
The Ohio speech has been billed by the Obama campaign as a "closing argument" for the candidate and one he will emphasize in a 30-minute prime-time television advertisement on Wednesday.
McCain, trying to make a comeback after losing his footing during the financial crisis, attempted to make up lost ground on economic issues. Majorities of Americans say in opinion polls that they trust Mr Obama more to handle the US economy.
Mr McCain said his approach would be to get government spending under control and cut taxes to encourage people to invest in the stock markets or buy a home. Obama's approach, he said, would increase spending and raise taxes to pay for it.
"This is the fundamental difference between Senator Obama and me. We both disagree with President Bush on economic policy. The difference is that he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high," Mr McCain said.
Among his economic advisers were two people he passed over to become his vice presidential running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.