ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio - John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have toned down their attacks on rival Barack Obama. Last Monday, Palin said that Obama was "palling around with terrorists." On Friday, after voters at campaign rallies shouted "terrorist" and "off with his head" toward the stage, McCain called Obama "a decent, family man" whom public shouldn't fear and cut off a woman who called him an Arab. The character attacks, it appears, are now out of Palin's stump speech as the economy has become the issue on which this election will be decided.
As McCain met with his economic team to consider new proposals, Palin emphasized the kitchen-table issues that dominate this small town, where farmers work the rolling hills and the streets are filled with shuttered small businesses. *