McCain and Obama duel on economy

By Jeff Mason

DEFIANCE, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama dueled over the economy on Thursday in the last stretch of a fierce fight for the White House, with McCain charging Obama would not do enough to rein in oil company profits.

McCain jumped on the record quarterly profits posted by Exxon Mobil, noting Obama had supported tax breaks for the oil industry in the 2005 energy bill and "when I'm president, we're not going to let that happen."

"Senator Obama voted for billions in corporate giveaways to the oil companies. I voted against it," McCain told supporters in Defiance, Ohio, as he tried to jump-start a comeback in a race that appears to be tipping toward Obama.

"If I'm elected president, we're going to stop sending $700 billion a year to pay for oil from countries that don't like us very much," McCain said. "We're going to drill off shore and we're going to drill now."

Obama leads McCain in national opinion polls and in key states like Florida and Ohio with five days of campaigning left before Tuesday's presidential election.

At a rally in Sarasota, Florida, Obama referred to Thursday's announcement that the U.S. economy had suffered its sharpest contraction in seven years and said the drop in gross domestic product reflected the failed Republican economic policies of McCain and President George W. Bush.

"If you want to know where John McCain will drive this economy, just look in the rear-view mirror," he said, using the same theme of a new advertisement launched by his campaign.

"Because when it comes to our economic policies, John McCain has been right next to George W. Bush. He's been sitting there in the passenger seat ready to take over," he said.