Trailing in the polls, Republican presidential candidate John McCain tried to put Democratic rival Barack Obama on the defensive last night in their third and final presidential debate. McCain said Obama is advocating “class warfare” with his plan to roll back President Bush’s tax cut for Americans making over a quarter-million dollars a year. And he chided Obama for his campaign theme that a McCain presidency would continue the policies of the Bush White House.

Sen. John McCain: “Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago. I’m going to give a new direction to this economy and this country.”

McCain also challenged Obama over his ties to ACORN, the community organizing group that has faced allegations of fraud in spearheading one of the most successful voter registration efforts in US history. McCain said ACORN could “[destroy] the fabric of democracy.”

Sen. McCain: “We need to know the full extent of that relationship. We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama’s relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of
democracy, the same front outfit organization that your campaign gave $832,000 for, for, quote, ‘lighting and site selection.’ So, all of these things need to be examined, of course.”

[Related coverage: ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis responds to the McCain campaign’s allegations]. McCain also brought up Senator Obama’s alleged ties to Bill Ayers, a respected Chicago professor who was a member of the 1960s militant antiwar group the Weather Underground. Obama accused McCain of trying to distract voters.

Sen. Barack Obama: “Forty years ago, when I was eight years old, he engaged in despicable acts with a radical domestic group. I have roundly condemned those acts. Ten years ago, he served and I served on a school reform board that was funded by one of Ronald Reagan’s former ambassadors and close friends, Mr. Annenberg.”

The two candidates also sparred over their plans to revive the economy. Obama challenged McCain’s recent proposal on relief for struggling homeowners.

Sen. Obama: “Now, Senator McCain and I agree with your idea that we’ve got to help homeowners. That’s why we included in the financial package a proposal to get homeowners in a position where they can renegotiate their mortgages. I disagree with Senator McCain on how to do it, because the way Senator McCain has designed his plan, it could be a giveaway to banks if we’re buying full price for mortgages that now are worth a lot less.”

On foreign policy, the candidates also discussed US trade policies. Obama invoked the killings of union leaders in Colombia.

Sen. Obama: “The history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis, and there have not been prosecutions.”