LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- John McCain's last stop on his tour of "forgotten" places isn't one forgotten by Democrats.
The presumptive Republican presidential candidate will speak to supporters less than a mile away from the Clinton presidential library Friday. It will be the last day of his tour of areas where people struggle with poverty and job losses. The visit is to a state where Democrats hold all the state's high offices, as well as the lead in campaign donations.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, a senior adviser to McCain, said McCain wants to try and earn the trust of all the people.
Trying to earn that trust will bring McCain to a men's leadership class at Arkansas Baptist College, a traditionally black private school just south of downtown Little Rock. Fitz Hill, the college's president, said the class serves as a model for other communities, looking at "Biblical roots" for answers to problems that plague modern cities.
The state Democratic Party, which held a conference call with reporters Thursday to criticize the GOP candidate's positions on the economy and the war in Iraq. Party chairman Bill Gwatney said he had no problem linking McCain to failures by President Bush.
Gwatney said Arkansas will be a battleground state for the Republicans and Democrats. He said he didn't believe what he called McCain's advocacy of the status-quo will work. Gwatney said Democrats strongly believe, no matter who the party's nominee is, that the country can't afford four more years of a Bush administration.
