REENVILLE, S.C. - Two days before the Republican showdown at the polls here, Senator John McCain waved his self-described positive campaign like a banner, while Texas Governor George W. Bush accused him of being a ''high horse candidate'' who's really taking the low road.
A new tracking poll by Zogby International showed a virtually dead-even race yesterday, with 43 percent for Bush and 42 percent for McCain, a statisticaly insignificant difference. The poll had a margin of error of four percentage points.
The McCain campaign took pains throughout the day to equate a vote for the Arizona senator with a vote for positive campaigning. On the banks of the Reedy River, inside an open-air pavilion, Mayor Knox White denounced the barrage of television commercials, push-polling, brochures and e-mails coming from the Bush campaign before several hundred flag-waving supporters.
''We're sick and tired of negative campaigning!'' he thundered.
And Representative Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, said the Bush campaign is giving 1,001 reasons not to vote for McCain, in ways that suggest he is not a good man.
''Folks in South Carolina are smarter than they say we are,'' Graham said to cheers and applause.
McCain and his supporters are hoping that by tomorrow, voters will be as sick of the saturation negative commercials as Jennifer Jerozal, a stay-at-home mother from this northwest corner of the state.
Jerozal had initially planned to vote for Bush, thinking he seemed ''strong.'' But she got fed up with the political ads, and was impressed when McCain took his attack ad down and vowed to run only positive commercials.
''We've had enough bad examples for our children,'' she said, cradling her 6-month-old daughter, Catherine, with a McCain sticker centered on the baby's white-knit bonnet. ''This is my deciding factor.''
McCain officials say they are hoping Bush steps up his attacks and are fearful that the governor might turn positive.
''I want them to throw some more at us,'' said Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, as he examined polling data showing the senator moving up despite the onslaught. ''Hit us again, come on, be mean.''
Across the state in Myrtle Beach, Bush continued to accuse McCain of distributing a flier riddled with false statements, including a charge that Bush would squander the budget surplus instead of preserving Social Security.
''It looks like the Straight Talk Express might've lost a wheel,'' Bush said.
''There's nothing factual about this,'' he continued, holding up a copy of one leaflet. ''The senator's got to understand: He can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road.''
McCain said he did not know if his campaign is still distributing the flier, but insisted it is accurate and fair.
Bush also faced questions yesterday about his dwindling campaign funds for a second day in a row. He was clearly irritated by a question about how he planned to handle the federal budget when it appeared he could not effectively manage his own.
''I'm going to give people their money back,'' Bush snapped, referring to his tax-cut plan.
It was a day of relatively heavy campaigning for Bush. After appearing on ''Good Morning America'' and ''The Early Show,'' Bush held a question-and-answer session in Florence before flying to Myrtle Beach, with two more events scheduled for later in the day. Both drew sizable crowds, but at both early events, large numbers of people left before the end. The later events were well attended and the ctrowds were enthusiastic.
Bush seemed unfazed by the mild reaction of some of his audiences. He also seemed relatively confident about recent reports that Democrats might flood the Republican primary to vote for McCain. If they did so, Bush said, it would be in order to boost the candidate less likely to beat a Democrat.
