Heading into the final days of the 2008 presidential contest on Sunday, the two frontrunners seem to be “all guns” targeting each other. While the confident Democrat Barack Obama rolled out a new TV ad asserting his rival is “running out of time,” Republican John McCain declared “I’m going to win it”, dismissing the polls that show him trailing.

Both the candidates sparred from a distance, each criticizing the other anew in hopes of swaying the roughly one-fourth of voters who are undecided or could still change their minds.

With the state-by-state Electoral College map tilting strongly in Obama’s favor, Democrats as well as Republicans say it will be extraordinarily difficult for McCain to change the trajectory of the campaign before the November 4 election.

McCain’s fellow senator from Arizona, Republican Jon Kyl, told the Arizona Daily Star editorial board: “Unfortunately, I think John McCain might be added to that long list of Arizonans who ran for president but were never elected.”

Meanwhile, in Colorado, Obama said to his largest ever crowd - local police estimating that “well over” 100,000 people – that for eight years, the Bush-McCain philosophy had put the country on the wrong track, and “another four years like the last eight” could not be afforded.  

The Anchorage Daily News, Alaska’s largest newspaper, said Obama “brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand.”

In coming days, both candidates will focus primarily on Bush-won, vote-rich battlegrounds - like Ohio and Florida - which decided the last two presidential elections, and may do so yet another time!