Candidates travel around Ohio for support

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Barack Obama and John McCain are trying to scare up votes Friday in Ohio as a prelude to a weekend of barnstorming as Election Day looms.

Democratic contender Obama's schedule includes visiting at least eight states in the final 96 hours of campaigning before Tuesday's voting, The New York Times reported. Included in his day-planner for Friday are rallies in Des Moines, Iowa, and a joint appearance in Ironton, Ohio, with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

McCain, the Republican standard-bearer, camped out for a second day in Ohio Friday, with stops in several communities before a rally in the state capital of Columbus with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The message from both camps to the electorate is similar: The election isn't over until it's over, no matter what the polls say.

"We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week -- because it does," Obama says on the stump.

"The pundits have written us off, just like they've done several times before," McCain tells his supporters. "We're a few points down, but we're coming back."

Aides to Obama said the Illinois senator planned a three-hour break Friday to celebrate Halloween with his two daughters in Chicago.