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Watch our two-part Debate: 'Can Obama live up to the hype?' 

Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama battled on Saturday in states that voted Republican in 2004 in the final, frenetic weekend of a long and grinding U.S. presidential election campaign.

 McCain was in Virginia looking to turn out the vote on Tuesday in a state that normally votes Republican but appears to be siding with Obama.

"We need to win Virginia on the fourth of November and with your help we're going to win," a spirited McCain said, exhorting supporters to "volunteer, knock on doors."

"With your help we can and will win," he said. "We're coming back and we're coming back in Virginia."

Obama, enjoying a lead in national polls and in many key battleground states where the election will be decided, sought a knockout punch in three states that went for President George W. Bush in 2004 -- Nevada, Colorado and Missouri.

Nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail was Bush himself. With a popularity rating below 30 percent, Bush was not asked to campaign for McCain. Obama has consistently sought to portray his opponent as a Bush clone.

Americans on Tuesday will vote in what amounts to 51 separate elections in each state and the District of Columbia. Each state has a number of electoral votes based on the size of its representation in Congress. Whichever candidate gets 270 electoral votes wins the White House.