Election countdown: T-minus 24 hours

With less than 24 hours until voting begins on Election Day, both presidential campaigns are in a frenetic scramble for exposure in the hottest swing states on the map.

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain both started the day in Florida – Obama with a rally in Jacksonville and McCain with one in Tampa. 

After rallying in the Sunshine State with popular Gov. Charlie Crist, McCain traveled on to Blountville, Tenn., where he vowed to secure the presidency in Tuesday’s vote.

Speaking to supporters in a packed airplane hangar, in a media market that reaches into Southwest Virginia, McCain praised his running mate as a choice that “ignited America” and painted a bleak portrait of what the economy would look like under a Democratic administration.

“As we speak, the Democrats are talking about taxing everything in sight, including your 401k contributions,” McCain said. “When I’m elected president, we’ll lower the cost of energy, create millions of new jobs and we will have environmentally safe offshore drilling.”

McCain also held a rally in Moon Township, Pa., with former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, where he called Obama the country’s “most liberal senator” and predicted voters in Pittsburgh would carry his ticket to victory.

The Republican presidential nominee is scheduled to appear in four more states today: Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona, his home state.

Obama, also campaigning in Florida Monday morning, took the opportunity to put one of Sen. McCain’s top campaign-trail gaffes back in the headlines.

“Remember what he said when he was here on September 15?” Obama asked the crowd, referring to Jacksonville’s Veterans’ Memorial arena. “He said – and I quote – ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

Addressing a crowd estimated at 9,150 people, and with many seats in the venue still empty, Obama tripped himself up with a minor gaffe, telling the crowd: “Republicans are spending a lot of time on ads here in Ohio.”

He correcting himself by explaining: “I’ve been traveling too much.”

As the candidate campaigned in the Sunshine State, Obama’s communications shop touted the news that the chairman of the University of Florida’s pro-McCain group, Gators for McCain, had endorsed Obama, explaining: “I’ve seen a different John McCain than the one I signed up to work for.”

The endorsement is unlikely to move votes, but the fact that the Obama team seized on it a sign of how eager the campaigns are to pick up the tiniest bit of momentum in the home stretch.

While in Florida, Obama also participated in a phone call with African-American political leaders, including television host Oprah Winfrey, musical artist Sean Combs, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and civil rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery, in an attempt to encourage one of his most enthusiastic constituencies in advance of tomorrow’s vote.

Before the day is over, Obama will also visit Charlotte, N.C., and Manassas, Va.

The vice presidential candidates aren’t letting up, either. Sen. Joe Biden is focusing his attentions on the Midwestern states of Missouri and Ohio, while Gov. Sarah Palin sprints through a coast-to-coast tour of electoral battlegrounds.

Palin began her day with a rally in Lakewood, Ohio, where she criticized the Democrats for their wariness of coal-based power and blasted Obama’s tax plan as an “experiment with socialism.”

“Our opponent’s plan is just for bigger government,” Palin said. “Only John McCain has the courage and the experience and the wisdom to get this economy back on track.”

Like her running mate, Palin promised the GOP faithful that an upset was in the making.

“You can just feel it here in Ohio,” she said, according to local media. “Victory is coming.” 

Palin left Ohio midday and headed to a rally in Jefferson, Mo., where she again blistered the Demcorats’ economic plan, charging: “Sen. Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes.”

She’ll continue on to events in Dubuque, Iowa and Colorado Springs, Co., finishing the day with two rallies in Nevada.

Palin’s opposite number on the Democratic ticket tried to fire up Democrats in Lee’s Junction, Mo., by warning that his ticket has not won the election yet, and accusing Republicans of trying to tear town their campaign.

“They’re calling [Sen. Obama] every name in the book,” said Biden, according to news reports. “Tomorrow night they’re going to be calling him something else: the forty-fourth president of the United States.”

A morning round of Quinnipiac polls showed the Obama-Biden ticket with a steady, if not overwhelming advantage in several key swing states. In Florida, Obama led McCain 47 percent to 45 percent, and posted wider leads in Ohio, where he was ahead by 7 points, and Pennsylvania, where he led McCain 52 percent to 42 percent.

On Sunday evening, McCain campaign adviser Rick Davis asserted that McCain could pull out a win, despite polls showing him at a disadvantage, thanks to persistent concerns about Obama among undecided voters.

“If Obama hasn’t closed the deal with them after two years in the campaign and a year as the nominee of their party, maybe they’re holding out for a good reason,” Davis said, acknowledging: “It’s just a tough environment. And we’re not playing on a level playing field.”

Carrie Budoff Brown, Jonathan Martin, Amie Parnes, and Ben Smith contributed to this report.