Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama opened a new line of attack against John McCain's health-care proposals as the Republican escalated his attacks on his opponent's tax initiatives.

Obama said McCain is offering a ``radical'' plan to revamp the health-care system by proposing to tax employer-provided benefits and give people credits to purchase insurance. Obama cited a comment made by McCain's top economic adviser that younger workers would get ``way better'' coverage under their employer plans than with the tax credit.

``The truth is, John McCain's health-care plan is radical, it's unaffordable, and it's not the change we need right now,'' Obama told a crowd at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

McCain, dismissing polls showing him trailing his Democratic rival, stuck with his message that Obama would raise taxes on the middle class, saying at stops Pennsylvania and North Carolina that the Democratic presidential candidate favors ``redistributing wealth.''

McCain and Obama were in Pennsylvania as both candidates vie for the state's 21 electoral votes in the Nov. 4 election. The Republican candidate also stopped in North Carolina and was headed for Florida, while Obama traveled to Virginia. The four states combined have 76 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim the White House.

Southern States

Obama is trying to solidify gains in the three southern states, which were won by Republican President George W. Bush in the last two elections. McCain is attempting to peel away Pennsylvania, which has voted for the Democratic candidate in the last four elections and where polls show Obama leading.

``It's going to come down to the wire here,'' McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, told a crowd at the Giant Center sports arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Obama has leads in Florida and Ohio, two states won by Bush that McCain must win to capture the presidency. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll found Obama ahead of McCain 50 percent to 43 percent among likely voters in Florida and leading 49 percent to 40 percent in Ohio.

Intense interest in the election prompted Florida Governor Charlie Crist yesterday to order polling places to stay open four extra hours each day for the rest of the week. Florida, which is among the biggest prizes in the election with 27 electoral votes, is one of 31 states that allow some form of early voting.

Domestic Issues

Florida voters by more than 2-to-1 say a candidate's views on domestic issues such as health care and the economy are more important than positions on the war in Iraq and terrorism, according to the Bloomberg poll, taken from Oct. 25-27.

Obama focused on health care in Virginia. His plan would mandate that employers provide insurance or pay into a fund to subsidize care for low-income families, require that all children be covered and create a government-run plan as an option for individuals and small businesses.

McCain would allow insurers to sell policies across state lines, provide federal aid to state pools for people who can't get private coverage and provide everyone a tax credit -- $2,500 for individuals or $5,000 for families -- to buy coverage. He would require that workers pay income tax on health benefits provided by employers.

McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said younger, healthier workers would have no reason to abandon their company-sponsored plans to take the tax credit, CNN reported.

Credit Versus Benefits

``Why would they leave?'' Holtz-Eakin said, according to CNN. ``What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit.''

Obama said Holtz-Eakin ``offered a stunning bit of straight talk -- an October surprise.''

Holtz-Eakin said in an e-mailed statement that Obama was quoting him out of context and ``continuing their scare tactics.''

McCain at each stop sought to portray Obama as wanting to take money from wealthier Americans for government programs.

``He is more interested in controlling wealth than in creating it, in redistributing money instead of spreading opportunity,'' the Arizona senator said. ``Senator Obama is running to be redistributionist-in-chief. I'm running to be commander-in-chief.''

Obama, a senator from Illinois, responded at his own rallies by asking audience members to raise their hands if they make less than $250,000 a year. He then promised that he would not raise their taxes and that only the wealthiest would see rates rise.

`Desperate'

``Now John McCain calls this socialism,'' he said in Harrisonburg. ``I don't think he's really serious about that, I think he's just desperate.''

As part of what he calls his ``closing argument'' to voters, Obama tonight is running a 30-minute ad during the start of prime network viewing time. It's set to run on the CBS Corp. network, General Electric Co.'s NBC News Corp.'s Fox at 8 p.m.

McCain has boosted his advertising this week in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Colorado and Georgia, though he still lags behind Obama, according to data compiled by Nielsen Co. McCain ran 1,350 commercials in those markets on Oct. 27, compared with 2,881 for Obama, Nielsen said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Edwin Chen in Miami, Florida, at echen32@bloomberg.net; Hans Nichols in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at Or hnichols2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 29, 2008 00:01 EDT