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By LEE-ANNE GOODMAN
The Canadian Press

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WASHINGTON - John McCain's presidential campaign is expected to get nastier and more personal in the final four weeks until election day as Barack Obama makes dramatic inroads in the key battleground states that will determine who wins the White House.

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NOT BIG SUPPORTERS OF MCCAIN-PALIN TICKET: Kate Beckwith, 56, of San Diego, left, and David Wiley, 45, of El Cajon, Calif., protest against Sarah Palin and John McCain outside of the Home Depot Centre where Sarah Palin spoke in Carson, Calif., on Saturday.

The McCain campaign is reportedly trying to shift focus away from the perpetual thorn in the Arizona senator's side - the U.S. economic crisis - and aggressively attack Obama's character, his friendships and his ability to run the country.

"We're going to get a little tougher," an unnamed Republican strategist told the Washington Post on the weekend. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here."

Picking away at Obama's experience and judgment was a battle plan that was working well for McCain in the summer, but was effectively neutralized after his surprise pick of Sarah Palin, the junior governor from Alaska, as his running mate five weeks ago.

McCain's judgment in choosing the much-ridiculed Palin has been consistently questioned since her arrival on the scene, and questions about whether she has the experience to serve as vice-president have dogged his campaign.

Some observers doubt that resurrecting the tactic against Obama is going to have much of an impact on fading Republican fortunes amid the economic crisis plaguing the United States and Obama's increasingly presidential-like performances on the national stage.

"McCain is running in a very toxic environment for Republicans and going on the attack is a sign that they're in trouble," John Geer, author of In Defence of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns, said Sunday from Nashville, Tenn.

"Americans aren't stupid. To come back to it now, after Obama has been looking very presidential, and to do so when the polls show you down seven points and you're pulling out of Michigan - it's a tactic that will seem suspicious to most Americans."

Nonetheless the plan already seemed in full force on the weekend.

Following what Republicans believe was Palin's winning debate performance against Senator Joe Biden last week, the McCain campaign seemingly unleashed their "pitbull with lipstick" on Obama.

On a campaign stop over the weekend, Palin suggested Obama is "palling around with terrorists."

"It's important to talk about how Barack Obama kicked off his political career in the guy's living room," she said Sunday.

She was referring to Obama's relationship with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground. Obama used to do community work with him years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for the Illinois senator early in his career.

Obama long ago denounced Ayers for his radical background.

But his campaign was giving as good as it got on the weekend, releasing an attack ad against McCain that accused him of being "erratic" in the face of the economic crisis.

"That's a not-very-subtle attack on McCain's age," Geer said.