White House foes Barack Obama and John McCain Monday feuded over the limping US economy, each searching for an edge on a potentially defining campaign issue, four months before the election.
Against a backdrop of rising job losses, soaring energy and food costs and a housing crisis, each candidate accused the other of misleading Americans over their tax policies, and of plotting strategies that would hinder growth.
"Americans are having a tough time, but we've been through worse, and beaten longer odds," Republican hopeful McCain said in Denver, Colorado, as he unveiled his "jobs first" agenda.
Democratic candidate Obama, kicking off a week of expected turf wars over the economy in key battleground states, meanwhile ridiculed his rival's fiscal credentials.
"Senator McCain said earlier this year that America has made "great progress economically" over the past eight years," Obama said.
"He believes we're on the right track, and he's launching a new economic tour today with policies that are very much the same as those we have seen from the Bush Administration."
In a brief moment of drama, Obama's plane had to make an unscheduled landing in St. Louis, Missouri, after the pilot detected a mechanical problem. The plane was not in danger, but was grounded for checks.
Obama had to deliver his remarks in a hastily organized event in the midwestern city, rather than at his scheduled location of Charlotte, North Carolina.
McCain undertook to balance the federal budget, in deficit in May to the tune of more than 160 billion dollars according to Treasury figures, within four years.
He also pledged to prospect for new oil and gas stocks, to offer new help to small businesses and to fund a 300 million dollar prize to spur development of hybrid and electric automobiles.
Democrat Obama meanwhile promised a new 50 billion dollar stimulus package, said he would cut taxes by 1,000 dollars for 95 percent of Americans and pledged to make quality healthcare available for everyone.
McCain, who now backs President George W. Bush's tax cuts after initially opposing them, also tried to empathize with the struggles of voters in the heartland.
"All you've ever asked of government is that it stand on your side, not in your way," he said.
"I intend to do just that: to stand on your side; to help business and not government create jobs; to fight for your future and not the personal ambitions of politicians and bureaucrats."
Obama vowed to spread the benefits of globalization, make sure free trade pacts included labor standards to protect US workers from cut-price overseas economies and promised to ease the tax burden on the middle class.
McCain meanwhile released a statement from more than 300 professional economists praising his economic blueprint as a "comprehensive, pro-growth, reform agenda."
The Arizona Senator argued that Obama would raise taxes on American workers, small businesses and families, a contention the Obama campaign rejected.
"Senator Obama's tax increases will hurt the economy even more, and destroy jobs across this country," McCain said.
Recent opinion polls and exit polls from the Republican and Democratic primary races show that the economy is the issue most pre-occupying voters.
A CNN/Opinion Research survey last month for instance found that 58 percent of Americans thought the economy was extremely important, compared to 50 percent who thought that Iraq was extremely important.
Economic woes are especially vexing in key battleground states like Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which have lost tens of thousands of jobs in recent years.
Neither candidate appears to have yet carved out a decisive edge on the economy, and both are expected to hammer the issue in the run-up to the election.
