McCain and Romney Take Opposite Routes for Victory

The two front runners in the Republican presidential nomination race in Michigan, John McCain and Mitt Romney, spent the final hours before today's election appealing for support through contrasting organs - one to the brain, the other the heart.

McCain took to the road in snowbound western Michigan with his "straight talking" message on a raft of micro policies, seeking to win potential voters by flattering their intellects. Romney scuttled across the Detroit area tugging at his audience's heart strings through the rubric of family, nation and God.

If ever there was an indication that the Republican party is in conflict about its identity and unsure of the road ahead, it was these two diametrically-opposed approaches and the fact that the pair stand neck and neck. Several opinion polls respectively put McCain slightly ahead, Romney slightly ahead, or on a dead heat - suggesting the only reliable prediction is that this election is too close to call.

McCain began his day in Kalamazoo, a small town once famous for growing celery which has diversified into technology research. The meeting was almost professorial in its focus on detailed policy.

The senator for Arizona spoke of the need to reduce health care costs by setting up medical walk-in centers; climate change and how to combat it through investment in clean fuel technologies; and how he would wean America from dependence on foreign oil.

His mantra is: "Let me tell you something you are not going to want to hear." Among the unpalatable truths that he itemized was his once unpopular support for the Bush administration's surge in Iraq which he said had now come good.

McCain - who, were he to win, would become the oldest incoming president in US history at 72 - was self deprecating, joking about his physical similarities to Arnold Schwarzenegger and even poking fun at his record as a Vietnam war hero. "I was able to intercept a surface to air missile with my own plane," he said.

If McCain spoke to the Republican party's head, Romney focused on its beating heart, rousing crowds with his definition of the American people. "We are family oriented. We believe in God, by and large, ... or something bigger than ourselves. We believe in opportunity. And we are patriotic to our core."

There were moments of cohesion: both promised to revive Michigan's sick economy and both said they would quickly shut off the US border with Mexico to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

Tonight's result is expected to decide whether Romney - already hurt in Iowa and New Hampshire - stays in the race.