17 Oct 2008

Obama warns against over-confidence

5:03 pm on 17 October 2008

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has warned his supporters to guard against over-confidence in the final days before the United States election on 4 November.

Senator Obama and Republican candidate John McCain were back on the campaign trial on Thursday after their third and last presidential debate on Wednesday.

Mr Obama leads in national opinion polls and many of the key states.

At a fundraising breakfast in Manhattan and again later in New Hampshire, he reminded contributors that he was supposed to win New Hampshire last January in the Democratic primary but lost the state to Senator Hillary Clinton.

The two candidates will be on the same stage again on Thursday night when they give speeches at the Al Smith charity dinner, a political tradition in Manhattan named for the former New York governor.

56.5 million watch debate

The final debate of the US presidential race on Wednesday drew 56.5 million television viewers.

Nielsen Media Research said viewer numbers for the 90-minute event was likely to have been diminished by a telecast of the decisive baseball match in the National League Championship Series.

The Game 5 victory of the Philadelphia Phillies over the Los Angeles Dodgers was broadcast by the Fox network.

In Philadelphia, the nation's fourth-largest TV market, more viewers tuned in to the baseball game than watched the debate.