COLUMBUS, Ohio - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama needs to bulk up. 

 The former bodybuilder and action movie star, who was campaigning for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said he would like to invite the lanky senator from Illinois to an annual body building expo. 

 ”I want to invite Sen. Obama because … he needs to do something about those skinny legs,” Schwarzenegger told a rally in Ohio, saying Obama had “scrawny little arms” that needed work too. 

 ”We’re going to make him do some squats.” 

 Obama goes to the gym regularly and plays basketball to stay in shape but often endures ribbing for his slim physique. 

 Schwarzenegger, whose wife, Maria Shriver, supports Obama, said the Illinois senator didn’t need to work on his body alone. 

“If we only could do something about putting some meat on his ideas,” Schwarzenegger said to roaring applause. 

 ”Now Sen. McCain on the other hand, he’s built like a rock.” 

 McCain was finishing a two-day bus tour through Ohio, a key battleground state that he must win to beat Obama in Tuesday’s election. Obama is ahead in the polls.

Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Schwarzenegger introduces McCain at a campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 31, 2008)

NEW PARIS, Penn. - What is the biggest competition for an apple orchard owner in rural Pennsylvania?
 
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin thought she knew the answer when talking to Matthew Boyer of Boyer Orchards.
 
“So is your competition imports from China?” Palin asked Boyer, as she stood in a barn in front of bushels of all different kinds of freshly picked apples at the family-owned orchard.
 
Not quite.
 
While it’s true that China is a huge apple producer and the United States’ share of world exports continues to decline, competition from China wasn’t Boyer’s biggest concern.
 
Boyer told Palin he was more worried about apples from Washington state, which produces some 60 percent of the apples grown in the United States.
 
In fact, the issue on Boyer’s mind was immigration.
 
Boyer employs migrants to pick his apples, and it is becoming harder to find people willing and able to do the work.
 
“We need workers. We can’t get any local person for it. It’s hard work,” he said.
 
“It’s increasingly difficult to find legal help. People don’t understand this immigration issue.”
 
Palin quickly turned the conversation to one of her preferred topics — the need to cut taxes, especially for small business owners.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

The gods could be smiling on Barack Obama come Nov. 4.

Weather forecasters AccuWeather.com predict sunny skies across much of the country on Election Day, and good weather has historically helped Democrats at the polls.

A 2005 study found that lousy weather typically helps Republicans, as less-dedicated voters who typically favor Democrats tend to stay home rather than wait in line in the rain and snow.

To be precise, turnout drops by just under 1 percent for every inch of rain, or one-half percent for every quarter inch of snow, according to University of Pittsburgh professor George Krause, who co-authored the study.

So what’s the outlook for Tuesday? Unseasonably dry and warm across most of the Lower 48 states, according to AccuWeather.

Showers are forecast for the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest, where polls show Obama leading Republican rival John McCain by substantial margins.

But the widespread popularity of early voting could lessen any weather-related impact on Tuesday’s vote, Krause told Accuweather.

A boost for McCain? Maybe not. A Pew Research Center study released earlier this week found that Obama leads McCain by 19 percentage points among those who have already cast their ballots.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credits: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama on a warm October 31 in Iowa); Brian Snyder (McCain speaks at a sunny Ohio rally)

KETTERING, Ohio, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden got publicly “ratted” by his Halloween prankster wife Jill at a rally in Ohio on Friday.

After introducing her husband of three decades to supporters in this suburb of Dayton, the community college teacher slipped a toy black rat onto the podium.

“Some things never change,” laughed Biden when he saw it. “I probably should never let the press know this but Jill walked back up here a moment ago and you know what she did, she put a little rat on the podium. Everything is Halloween with this lady. Happy Halloween.”

Despite receiving a small rat from his wife, the Delaware senator said he had never heard her say such wonderful things about him as she had on the campaign trail.

“Some of you guys can appreciate that. It is hard enough getting it in private, but this is worth the trip man to have my wife stand up and say all those wonderful things about me. I love you Jilly,” Biden gushed.

Earlier in the week, Biden poked Halloween fun at Republican presidential candidate John McCain, proposing an “agent of change” costume was a poor fit for his fellow senator, whose policies he said were indivisible from those of the Bush administration.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking

WASHINGTON - What a popular guy.  
 
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is so popular that some “tough decisions” had to be made about which members of the press corps would fly on his plane during the final days of the campaign.
 
Off the plane this weekend will be the Dallas Morning News, New York Post and Washington Times. Among those taking seats will be staffers from the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, according to a campaign official.
 
Flying with the candidate is crucial because it expedites getting to campaign events, eliminating the hassles of commercial travel, as well as provides access to the candidate or other officials on the plane.
 
“Unfortunately, demand for seats on the plane during this final weekend has far exceeded supply, and because of logistical issues we made the decision not to add a second plane,” said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki. 
 
“This means we’ve had to make hard and unpleasant for all concerned decisions about limiting some news organizations and in some cases not being in a position to offer space to news organizations altogether,” she said.
 
A campaign official said adding a second plane would have cut a city a day from the schedule and that also larger news outlets were facing new limits on the number of seats on the plane, such as for columnists and extra correspondents.
 
Conservative outlet DrudgeReport highlighted the fact that all three newspapers losing their spots on the plane endorsed Republican rival John McCain for president.

The Dallas Morning News said it had no evidence of a connection to its endorsement, blogging its explanation here. The New York Post wrote its response here, suggesting it was not in the news business to be “liked”. The Washington Times said it was unhappy with the decision which it noted came two days after it endorsed McCain. A campaign official said the Times was told before it made its endorsement. 
 
Psaki said the campaign would still help correspondents not on the plane with hotel reservations, space on the buses and ensuring they receive the information that is given to the reporters on the plane.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (luggage and equipment belonging to the press corps is laid out for a security sweep)

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - It’s official. Republican John McCain is making an appearance on the popular comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live this weekend, just days before the November 4 election.

SNL has seen its ratings surge this season on the popularity of its political skits, especially actress Tina Fey’s portrayal of McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin. 

Palin, who bears a striking resemblance to Fey, appeared on the show two weeks ago, boosting ratings and drawing positive reviews.

McCain, 72, is a joker on the campaign trail himself, often poking fun at his home state or his friends from the Senate. 

The Arizona senator has often said he would make appearances on late night variety shows to boost his appeal with younger voters, many of whom have flocked to the candidacy of his Democratic rival Barack Obama, who is ahead in opinion polls. 

The trip to New York, where the show is filmed, will take McCain out of important battleground states like Ohio and Florida just days before voters go to the polls, but the campaign clearly believes the time is well spent appealing, for free, to a national television audience. 

The appearance will be McCain’s third on the show.

REUTERS/Brian Snyder (McCain in Florida); REUTERS/staff (Palin and Fey)

NEWARK, Del., Oct 31 (Reuters) - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden chose his alma mater, the University of Delaware, to kick off his final sprint before election day.

To shouts of “Joe, Joe, Joe,” the Delaware senator gave his stump speech in front of the imposing white columns of the university’s Memorial Hall, where he was standing when he heard the tragic news in 1963 of John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

“I remember going to the parking lot where one of the day students had a car, and we listened to the tragic news,” he said.

If his running mate Barack Obama wins on Tuesday, he will be the country’s first black president and Biden will be the first vice president to come from Delaware, where he has served as U.S. senator since 1972 when he won the seat at the age of 29.

“I come today with greater confidence and passion about the ability of this country,” he said, recalling his campaign speeches in 1972 at the university. “I believe we are literally on the cusp of new leadership in the 21st century. I believe that with every fiber of my being.”

Biden’s wife Jill is also a graduate of the university and recalled the day when she was awarded her doctorate and her senator husband put up a sign in their driveway welcoming home “Dr. and Senator Biden.”

He then brought up a campaign slogan of Republican opponent Sarah Palin whose supporters shout “Drill, baby drill” at many of her rallies.

“When she (Jill Biden), campaigns ’round the country, you know what they yell when she gets up: ‘Jill baby Jill’. Well Jill baby, I love you kid,” Biden quipped.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Biden at a rally earlier this week in Florida)

DALLAS - Yale Economist Ray Fair’s econometric forecasting model for presidential elections gives an almost 4-point spread to Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain in Tuesday’s White House election.

The model, based on data going back almost a century, has just been updated after Thursday’s release of figures showing U.S. economic output shrank at a 0.3 percent annual rate in the third quarter as the
biggest pullback by consumers since 1980 overwhelmed an increase in government spending.

On his web site, Fair says in a two-party presidential race, the Democratic candidate can expect 51.91 percent of the vote while the candidate for the incumbent White House party — the Republican Party — is seen garnering 48.09 percent.

“The current situation is unusual in that the economy since the end of the third quarter appears to have gotten much worse. People may perceive the economy to be worse than the economic values through the third quarter indicate, which, other things being equal, suggests that the vote equation may overpredict the Republican share,” Fair says.

“But for what it is worth, the final vote prediction is 48.09 percent of the two-party vote for the Republicans. The Republican share of the two-party House vote is predicted to be 44.24 percent.”

The financial crisis is seen as the main reason for Obama’s lead in virtually every national poll heading into the election and Thursday’s data adds to the gloom. The drop in gross domestic product was widely expected but the decline was not as sharp as expected.

The economy is widely anticipated to contract again in the fourth quarter which would meet the classic definition of a recession — and history shows that recessions are hard on incumbent parties in the United States.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

SANDUSKY, Ohio - It got off to a bit of a rocky start, but Republican presidential candidate John McCain finally campaigned with the latest star of the U.S. election –  Joe the Plumber — on Thursday.
    The Arizona senator has mentioned Joe Wurzelbacher regularly at rallies for the last two weeks since the Ohio man drilled Democratic presidential candidate  Barack Obama over his tax policies and elicited a response about spreading people’s wealth.
On Thursday, McCain finally introduced him in Defiance, Ohio. But Joe wasn’t there. Woops. McCain recovered by telling the crowd they all were Joe the Plumbers, and moved on. 

By McCain’s next rally in Sandusky, Joe was present.

“He deserves our appreciation. Thank you for your courage,” McCain said. “By the way, I was at an event earlier this morning and I introduced you and even though you weren’t even there, they cheered.”

A McCain aide said the error was a simple miscommunication. Wurzelbacher told CNN the campaign had not called to confirm that he should come.

Mishap over, Joe joined McCain for the rest of the candidate’s bus tour through this crucial swing state.

“Should we hear from our celebrity?” McCain asked the crowd before ceding the stage briefly to Wurzelbacher in Sandusky.

Joe said he hadn’t prepared anything but made a few remarks anyway, encouraging people to do research before they vote.

“Get involved in the government, that way we can hold our politicians accountable,” he said.

By the end of the day, his remarks were more polished: he told everyone he was voting for McCain.

Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain greets Joe the Plumber)

DALLAS - A leading social conservative, who asked not to be named, has confirmed reports in Politico and The New York Times that major players in the movement plan to meet in Virginia next week after Tuesday’s presidential election between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.

Their mission will be  to chart the next course for their movement and the Republican Party.

If McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin – the rising star with this set — pull off an upset win, they will be in a jubilant mood. But the meeting seems more premised on the scenario of a McCain loss, which most opinion polls suggest at this point.

“There is a consensus that the Republican Party is in trouble,” said the source, who plans to attend the meeting.

“I think there will be a number of meetings after next Tuesday among social conservatives,” the source said, adding they would be aimed at reigniting the movement and keeping its agenda high in Republican circles.

Religious and social conservatives are a key base of support for the Republican Party who enthusiastically backed President George W. Bush but they have been frustrated in this election cycle.

During the primary elections, they could not rally behind any one candidate. When McCain finally clinched the Republican nomination, many were aghast because of his departure from social conservative orthodoxy on many issues such as stem cell research, immigration and campaign finance reform.

They have been galvanized by Palin, who has brought God and guns firmly onto the ticket. The financial crisis has riveted voter attention on economic woes — although for a core set of activists, evangelicals and conservative Catholics, issues like opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage remain paramount.

The meeting in Virginia next week also seems to be aimed at re-energizing the grassroots of the social conservative movement ahead of the 2010 congressional elections and the 2012 White House race.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage