Republican John McCain is holding a series of “Joe the Plumber” events aimed at blue-collar workers as he hopes to keep Florida from swinging to Barack Obama.

He’s riding the “Straight Talk Express” from Ormond Beach on the Atlantic Coast to Sarasota on the Gulf Coast, a route that traverses the vote-rich “I-4 Corridor” through central Florida.

McCain also plans to make some informal stops along the way in between the more formal rallies.

Recent polls show McCain and Obama running close, but Obama has been bombarding Florida with TV ads while campaigning with Senator Hillary Clinton.

Early voting in Florida started Monday and about 150,000 people have already cast their ballots.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama is addressing the constant criticisms of his tax plan coming from John McCain.

McCain claims Obama wants to redistribute wealth, prompting Obama to start giving a point-by-point rebuttal of those arguments, which he’ll make today in Indiana.
 
In yet another state that voted Republican in 2004, Obama plans to tell voters that it’s he, not McCain, who would provide more new tax relief to middle-class families.

After a morning rally, Obama heads to Hawaii to visit his ill grandmother.

Yesterday in Virginia, Obama said the difference between his plan and McCain’s is in who would actually get a tax cut. He says McCain “is in cahoots with Joe the CEO.”