CEDARBURG, WIS. - Their political coronations behind them, John McCain and Barack Obama began a two-month sprint to Election Day by scouring for votes in key electoral states and heatedly tussling over whether personal character or economic concerns would determine the next president.

McCain joined his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for two Midwest rallies, arguing that they represent the surest route to reform and capitalizing on Republicans' enthusiastic embrace of Palin.

"Isn't this the most marvelous running mate in the history of this nation?" McCain asked to the cheers of thousands of supporters. "... I can't wait to introduce her to Washington, D.C., and the pork-barrelers and the lobbyists, and all the special interests whose day is done, my friends."

Democrat Obama responded with scorn for what he said was the Republicans' neglect of the economy. "You would think that George Bush and his potential Republican successor John McCain would be spending a lot of time worrying about the economy and all these jobs that are being lost on their watch," said Obama, referring to Friday's grim jobless report.

"But if you watched the Republican National Convention over the past three days, you wouldn't know that we have the highest unemployment rate in five years because they didn't say a thing about what is going on with the middle class."

Both campaigns wasted no time in shifting away from the partisan messages aimed at the party faithful, and back toward the political center where both hope to find the votes they need for victory this fall. With both national conventions over and the line-ups set, the contours of the fall campaign were evident.

Palin brings in crowds

For McCain, who spent months arguing that experience should vault him to the White House, the convention in St. Paul served as a pivot toward reform as a prime message, and McCain and Palin as dual messengers. Each has lauded the other for populist moves, sometimes made against the wishes of the Republican Party.

In Cedarburg and later at an outdoor rally with thousands of people in Sterling Heights, Mich., Palin on Friday continued her role as a self-described lipstick-wearing pit bull, mocking Obama's background as a community organizer and deriding him as showing indifference toward small-town people.

"These are the people who do some of the hardest work in America," she said, prompting chants of "U-S-A." "They grow our foods and they run our factories and they fight our wars. They love their country, in good times and in bad, and they are always proud to be an American."

At both events Friday, it was Palin who stole the show. A senior McCain adviser said the campaign's internal polling shows that she is having a remarkable effect on the ticket, particularly among working women and in rural America. The adviser said that in focus groups, Palin is seen as "Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington -- a genuine 'real person,' but who has proven she can shake things up and get things done" while being "someone they see as a caring mom who can be tough."

Also sounding economic themes, McCain said: "These are tough times. Tough times in Wisconsin. Tough times in Ohio. Tough times all over America."

"My opponent will raise your taxes." McCain said. "My tax cuts will create jobs."

Obama stays with economy

In Pennsylvania, Obama seized on Friday's jobless numbers to bolster his contention that the economy is off track and that Republicans are to blame -- now the heart of his message to voters.

Campaigning this week through the Rust Belt, the Democrat promoted investments in new energy sources and automobile manufacturing as the sort of fixes he would deliver "so that those jobs are created right here in the United States," as he told a crowd at the Schott specialty glass factory in Duryea, Pa., on Friday. But, he added, "we've got to have a vision from the White House to do it."

He has been hitting on the same basic theme, whether the crowd is 20,000 people in a minor-league baseball park or 150 factory employees -- the total on hand on Friday morning. Obama argued that the Bush administration has badly mismanaged the economy, resulting in layoffs and home foreclosures, higher gas and food prices and missed growth opportunities -- and that electing McCain would result in more of the same. His running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., campaigned in southeast Pennsylvania, echoing the theme.

Obama also ridiculed a comment by McCain's campaign manager that the election would revolve more around personality than issues.

"This is not about personalities," he said. "If you want it to be about personalities, we'll go out for a beer sometime and we'll talk. But you don't have time. You'd rather spend it with your family. What you do want to know is that you'll have someone who is fighting for you."

The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.