"Today, we are all Georgians," McCain told several thousand people at the York Fairgrounds, recounting what he had said in a telephone conversation earlier in the day with the country's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, whom he has befriended during several visits.

"We live in a dangerous world. We never know what's around the corner," McCain said in a veiled rebuke of his vacationing rival, first-term Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

McCain, an Arizona senator since 1987, said Americans should care about the conflict not only because Georgia is a close U.S. ally but also because it is at a "strategic crossroads" for oil pipelines from the Caspian Sea region to Western markets. He said Russia had "ambitions" to threaten countries that are, like Georgia, U.S. allies.

As he had the day before, McCain urged that vigorous diplomacy be used to halt Russia's actions.

It was a return to a familiar GOP theme - national security - for McCain as he campaigned in York and Lancaster, the heart of the Republican base in Pennsylvania. On the second of a two-day visit, McCain was accompanied again by former Gov. Tom Ridge, the nation's first secretary of homeland security.

Also with them was Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I., Conn.), who was blunter, launching a harsh attack on Obama, though he did not use the Illinois senator's name.

"In my opinion, the choice could not be more clear: between one candidate, John McCain, who's had experience, been tested in war and tried in peace, and another candidate who has not," said Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, who introduced the soon-to-be GOP nominee.

The choice, Lieberman continued, is "between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not. Between one candidate who's a talker, and the other candidate who's the leader America needs."

Lieberman's remarks came on the same day that Obama's campaign announced a group of prominent Republicans who have endorsed him, led by former Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa.

In a statement, Obama's campaign said McCain's claim to bipartisan leadership was a sham, saying McCain had voted with President Bush 95 percent of the time. The campaign yesterday also launched a Pennsylvania radio ad that accuses McCain of not doing enough to prevent manufacturing jobs from going overseas, and that refers to Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which are made in York.

The ad quotes McCain's comments at a South Dakota biker rally this month: "Not long ago a couple hundred thousand Berliners made a lot of noise for my opponent. I will take the roar of 50,000 Harleys any day." Not "when it comes to his record," an announcer intones. As motorcycles rev up, the ad concludes, "It's time to hear the roar of a strong American economy again."

As the event at the fairgrounds began, a large garage door in the York Expo Center clattered open and McCain's campaign bus rolled up to the stage as that iconic Pennsylvania political song, the theme from Rocky, played at eardrum-bursting volume.

Later, McCain said he relished being behind in the race with Obama, and he vowed to visit as many Pennsylvania hamlets as possible – reminding voters, of course, that Obama once said the state's small-town residents "cling" to guns and religion because they are bitter at their economic plight.

"I'm going to tell them I think they are the heartland of America, that the values they hold dear are the strength and character of America," McCain said. "They're the reason why the people in Georgia today are looking to America . . . a beacon of hope and liberty."

He added: "I think we're going to be up late on election night."

In response to a questioner who worried whether he was conservative enough, McCain stressed his desire to nominate Supreme Court justices who interpret the Constitution strictly.

"There's going to be two, maybe three vacancies on the Supreme Court, according to people that decide these things," McCain said, correcting himself by adding: "People that pay close attention."

When McCain campaigned Monday in Erie, he teased Ridge, who has been mentioned as a potential running mate. The two men are close. Yesterday, however, McCain did not allude to that possibility but praised Ridge for his work as the first chief of the nation's Homeland Security Department.

"It's not an accident that there has not been another attack on the United States of America," McCain said. "For that, we owe a debt of gratitude to Tom Ridge."