14 DAYS TO GO:BARACK OBAMA has warned supporters that the presidential race will tighten during its last two weeks, despite his huge financial advantage and the boost he received from Colin Powell's endorsement.
A new CNN poll suggests that Mr Obama's lead over Republican John McCain is already shrinking, putting him just six points ahead, compared to 11 points a fortnight ago.
"That's what happens at the end of campaigns. Even when there are substantial leads. And in each of these battleground states, you've got a lot of close races. One of the messages that I've had to my team is that we don't let up. We do not let up," Mr Obama told NBC's Todayshow.
"You know, you remember we had those big leads. We had gotten 11 wins in a row against Senator Clinton. I think there was this sense of, 'Okay, things are kind of working out,' and thought that we could just ride momentum. And we ended up getting our head handed to us."
Campaigning in Florida yesterday, Mr Obama said he expects Republicans to step up negative attacks in the closing weeks of the campaign, despite signs that voters are wearying of Mr McCain's focus on the Democrat's personal associations.
"In the final days of campaigns, the say-anything, do-anything politics too often takes over. We've seen it before. And we're seeing it again today. The ugly phone calls. The misleading mail and TV ads. The careless, outrageous comments. All aimed at keeping us from working together, all aimed at stopping change," Mr Obama told a crowd in Tampa.
"It's getting so bad that even Senator McCain's running mate denounced his tactics last night. As you know, you really have to work hard to violate Governor Palin's standards on negative campaigning."
A day after Mr Obama announced that he raised $150 million in September, Mr McCain's campaign said yesterday that the Republican had just $47 million to spend at the beginning of October. Mr McCain is no longer raising money because he is participating in the presidential election public financing system that limits his total spending for the general election to $84.1 million.
Mr McCain has received help from the Republican National Committee, which raised $66 million in September, but there are restrictions on co-ordinating action between the party and the presidential campaign.
Campaigning in St Louis yesterday, Mr McCain acknowledged that, trailing in national polls and in most battleground states, he has a tough battle ahead in the final days of the campaign.
"Let me give you the state of the race today," he said.
"We have 15 days to go, we're a few points down, the national media has written us off, as they have several times in the past."
Democrats hope Mr Powell's endorsement will boost Mr Obama's credentials on national security, which polls show to be his weakest issue with the public.
His running mate Joe Biden strayed off-message on Sunday night, however, when he told supporters in Seattle that, if he is elected, Mr Obama will be tested by a foreign policy crisis soon after taking office.
"It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy," he said.
Republicans have sought to play down the significance of Mr Powell's endorsement and conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh claimed yesterday that the former secretary of state was only backing Mr Obama because both men are black.
"This was all about Powell and race, nothing about the nation and its welfare. He said it's not about race - show me all the inexperienced white liberals you've endorsed if it's not about race," Mr Limbaugh said. "It stuns me how Gen Powell and others can back someone whose judgment has been so poor."
Mr Powell has insisted that race was not the primary factor behind his endorsement, pointing out that, if that was the case, he could have made his choice months earlier.