John McCain heads into the third and final presidential debate against Barack Obama tonight promising to "whip his you-know-what" and transform a race now pointing towards a resounding Democratic victory.

Given the flailing Republican campaign in recent days, however, he may have trouble distinguishing Mr Obama's "you-know-what" from his elbow or any other part of the anatomy. Last night a CBS/New York Times poll showed the Democrat surging to a 14-point lead, the biggest margin so far. The disarray in the McCain team was apparent even as they sought to relaunch policies designed to tackle the financial crisis before the televised debate.

Over the weekend campaign aides promised that he would unveil details of a new package for the economy on Monday. Then, on Sunday night, they said that he would not. By Monday evening it was back on again.

When he finally took to the stage in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, yesterday to announce a $52.5 billion (£30 billion) plan pitched towards voters on retirement incomes, much of its potential impact had been lost. He had no more luck with the $300 billion mortgage rescue proposal which, after being announced hurriedly in last week's debate, got panned by liberals and conservatives alike as inconsistent with his promised spending cuts. (TimesOnline, UK)