McCain takes 'Joe the Plumber' bus tour

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain was charging across Florida on Thursday on a bus tour named for "Joe the Plumber," emblematic of his drive to win over working-class, anti-tax voters by slamming Democrat Barack Obama as a socialist who wants to redistribute American wealth. A new poll in what is known as the Sunshine State, a critical battleground in the 2008 presidential election, showed Obama leading McCain by 49 percent to 44 percent. But the 5-point edge was down from an 8-point spread in Obama's favor in the same poll Oct. 1.