Obama warns against overconfidence

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-17 15:26

NEW YORK -- Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama warned his supporters to guard against overconfidence on Thursday as he and underdog Republican rival John McCain opened a 19-day sprint to Election Day.

US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) greets supporters at a campaign event at Mack's Apple's orchard in Londonderry, New Hampshire, October 16, 2008. [Agencies]

The two candidates hit the campaign trail, Obama in New York and New Hampshire and McCain in Pennsylvania, after their third and last presidential debate on Wednesday, a testy face-off that made an Ohio plumber famous.

So far, all the stars seemed to be lining up in Obama's favor. He leads in national opinion polls and in many of the battleground states where the November 4 race will be won or lost.

Late on Thursday, The Washington Post delivered an endorsement of Obama and a rebuke to McCain in an editorial on its web site. The Post, one of America's most respected newspapers, said its endorsement of Obama was "without ambivalence."

"The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain's disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president," the Post editors wrote. "It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race."

A confident but cautious Obama told supporters in New York, "We are now 19 days not from the end but from the beginning. The amount of work that's going to be involved for the next president will be extraordinary."

Traders betting on future events in the political prediction markets are overwhelmingly predicting an Obama victory, giving the Illinois Democrat a better than 80 percent chance of winning. Ireland's biggest bookmaker, Paddy Power, was already declaring Obama the winner.

Remember New Hampshire

But Obama pointed out to deep-pocket contributors at a fundraising breakfast in Manhattan, and later to supporters in a driving rain in Londonderry, New Hampshire, that he was supposed to win New Hampshire last January in the Democratic primary but lost the state to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"We are 19 days away from changing this country, 19 days. But for those who are getting a little cocky, I've got two words for you: New Hampshire. I learned right here that you can't let up or pay too much attention to the polls," he said.

In New York, he said, "I've been in these positions before when we were favored and the press starts getting carried away and we end up getting spanked."

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