Obama and McCain in tense final debate

Barack Obama and John McCain have clashed over their economic plans and other issues in a fractious final TV debate before the US presidential poll.

In a series of testy exchanges, Mr McCain accused Mr Obama of lying and of having ties to a domestic "terrorist".

Mr McCain also accused his Democratic rival of wanting to raise taxes.

Mr Obama sought to link Mr McCain with President Bush and said he was running a negative campaign. Immediate voter polls found Mr Obama came out on top.

A CNN poll of debate-watchers said Mr Obama won by 58% to 31%, while a CBS survey found the Democrat the winner by 53% to 22%.

A poll of undecided independent voters by US network Fox also suggested Mr Obama was the victor.

Mr McCain's reference to Mr Obama's association with Bill Ayers, once a member of a US group that waged a violent campaign against the Vietnam War, continued the main Republican line of attack from the past 10 days.

Mr Obama rejected Mr McCain's criticism over Mr Ayers - now a university professor with whom he has served on a charity board - pointing out that he had been a child at the time of Mr Ayers' radical activities.

"Mr Ayers is not involved in my campaign," he said.

Mr McCain, senator for Arizona, also accused Mr Obama of big spending on attack ads.

The Illinois senator responded that 100% of Mr McCain's political adverts had been negative and that voters were more interested at this point in how the candidates planned to fix the economy.

'Spread the wealth'

The 90-minute debate, held at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, with moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News, elicited more direct confrontations between the candidates than their two previous encounters.

Both candidates sought to explain how they would make their promised economic packages and spending plans fit with a rising US budget deficit.

Mr McCain said he would be able to balance the federal budget by cutting wasteful spending and urged voters to compare the records of the two candidates.

He used the example of "Joe the plumber", a plumber from Ohio who expressed concern about what Mr Obama's tax plans might mean for his business after meeting the Democrat at the weekend.

Mr Obama rejected Mr McCain's charge that he planned to raise taxes on higher earners to "spread the wealth around", saying that "nobody likes taxes" but that investment in the economy was necessary.

Mr McCain sought to fight back against Mr Obama's attempt to link him to the policies of the Bush administration.

"Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago," he said.

Mr Obama countered: "If I have occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people, on tax policy, on energy policy, on spending priorities you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush."

The two candidates also traded blows over their policies on energy.

While Mr Obama spoke about his support for alternative energy sources and the need for the US to build highly fuel efficient cars, Mr McCain voiced his backing for offshore drilling and nuclear power.

Taking up a hot-button social issue, Mr McCain said his rival had aligned himself with "the extreme aspect of the pro-abortion movement in America", citing a vote by Mr Obama in the Illinois state senate against a ban on late-term abortion.

Mr Obama defended that vote, saying the measure would have undermined Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling granting women rights to abortion. The debate comes as a new national poll puts Mr Obama ahead by 53% to 39%. The poll, by the New York Times and CBS News, suggests that Mr McCain's recent turn to negative campaigning has backfired. The majority of those voters whose opinion of the Republican presidential candidate has gone down cite his attacks on Mr Obama.

Uphill task

The state of the economy now rates as overwhelmingly the most important issue for voters.

Meanwhile, the scale of the economic challenge facing the next president was demonstrated by the news that the US government's budget deficit hit a record high of $455bn in the current financial year that ended on 1 October - even before the cost of the $700bn bail-out is taken into account. The candidates had been elaborating on their latest economic proposals ahead of the debate. Mr McCain has proposed an extra $52bn in tax cuts to help retired people whose savings have been hit by the credit crunch, while Mr Obama wants an additional $60bn emergency spending package to help states, the unemployed and companies to create jobs. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee has said it will halt its advertising in Maine and Wisconsin.

-BBC