Taking stock of scandals, issues with three weeks left to the election

With three weeks left until Election Day, the presidential campaigns are charging through battleground states as they sling barbs to rally their base and sway the undecided.

Economic turmoil dominated the week's discourse, as well as the backgrounds of both contenders. John McCain is hoping voters see Barack Obama as too inexperienced and untested to lead the country out of a financial collapse.

Barack Obama is trying to link the fallout to deregulation championed by McCain and President George Bush. He is painting McCain as "erratic."

Here is a look back at key moments and some things you may have missed in the past week.

Economics 101

Both sides accuse the other of not having a solid plan to steer the country out of financial free fall. But both sides also argue their tax cut plans and alternative energy plans will help do just that. They offered some new ideas to voters.

McCain is pitching the American Homeownership Resurgence Plan, which he says will stabilize the housing market. The Arizona Republican wants to spend $300 billion to purchase at-risk mortgages directly from homeowners and restructure them to reflect the declined value of the property.

Obama introduced the Small Business Rescue Plan to extend low-interest loans to firms and suspend the capital gains tax for small business investment.

Ad wars

McCain launched a new ad last week saying Obama's lack of judgment is exemplified by his ties to former alleged domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and that such poor judgment makes him unfit to lead the country out of economic trouble.

Obama, meanwhile, is hitting McCain on health care, saying his plan could push 20 million people off the coverage role. He also launched a Web ad documenting McCain's history with figures from the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s.

Third parties

In 2000, many Democrats blamed Al Gore's defeat on Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. The number of votes he took in Florida would have more than covered the spread between Gore and Bush in that critical state.

Likewise, in 1992 third party candidate Ross Perot could be blamed for taking away conservative votes from George H.W. Bush. Perot won nearly 19 percent of the popular vote nationwide.

In this election, though, the third party candidates don't yet seem to be registering with voters. Still, if it is a close election in a few key battleground states, they could have an impact.

Observers believe McCain should worry about Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, who is running against the bailout plans. Nader, an independent candidate this time around, could be a problem for Obama.

Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, a former Georgia congressman, also are in the mix.

But a new Gallup Poll shows the candidates have minimal support. In a poll of 926 registered voters conducted between Oct. 3 and Oct. 5, none of the third party candidates registered above 2 percent.

Barr and McKinney garnered 1 percent while Baldwin was below a half of a percentage point. Nader came in the highest with 2 percent. A similar poll a month ago put Nader at 4 percent.

Battleground

The candidates largely stayed in the Midwest last week in hopes of swaying states where they are down in the polls.

Following Tuesday's debate, Obama hit Indiana, a solid Republican state he is trying to make competitive. His campaign has been running ads in the Hoosier state, which often spill over into Chicago's cable and radio market.

McCain spent some considerable time in Wisconsin, which went for the Democrats in the last two presidential elections. Obama has been rounding up extra volunteers from Illinois to hit both Wisconsin and Indiana on the weekends.

Later in the week, Obama spent considerable time in Ohio, which went for Bush in 2004 and 2000. He is hoping the economic problems there may put Republican-leaning voters in his camp. Running mate Joe Biden spent a few days in Missouri, a Republican-leaning state.

On Saturday, McCain crossed briefly into Illinois when he landed in Moline along the Mississippi River to campaign in neighboring Davenport, Iowa, a swing state.

The scandals

The McCain campaign is going after Obama for his connections to the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, or ACORN, which is facing allegations of voter fraud in key battleground states. ACORN has endorsed Obama and claims to have registered 1.3 million new voters. Obama's campaign paid more than $800,000 for get-out-the-vote efforts during the primaries to an ACORN affiliate. ACORN says the allegations of fraud are politically motivated to suppress the vote. The Obama campaign has said the presidential contender denounces all voter fraud.

McCain running mate Sara Palin abused her power as Alaska governor by trying to fire her former brother-in-law from the state police while she was governor, according to a report released Friday by a state investigator's bipartisan panel. The report also determined Palin's firing of Alaska's public safety commissioner - who refused to fire her brother-in-law - was within her authority. Palin denounced the report as false and a political vendetta by the investigators.

Coming up

Obama and McCain meet Wednesday at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York for the third and final presidential debate. The debate will be moderated by Bob Schieffer. Tune in at 8 p.m.