John McCain enters the final day of the 2008 presidential contest facing what even some prominent Republicans were dubbing a difficult fight as a clutch of polls showed Democrat Barack Obama’s national lead widening into the double digits.

Mr McCain, who on Monday began a last-minute, seven-state dash, remained defiant, insisting that polls were misreading the mood of the country. Late on Sunday the Gallup trend poll showed Mr Obama with a 10-point lead over Mr McCain, enough to push him well into landslide territory.