John McCain and Barack Obama are escalating their fight for a group of voters that could be the make-or-break demographic this November -- Hillary Clinton's supporters.

McCain made a direct appeal to those voters Saturday, holding a virtual town hall for Democrats and Independents in which he stressed his "respect" for Clinton despite their policy differences.

The presumptive GOP nominee took aim at picking up disenchanted supporters of the former Democratic presidential candidate even before she dropped out of the race last week. He hopes that group, with its moderate tendencies, will be open to a Republican nominee as he casts Obama as the "extreme" liberal of the Senate.

McCain, an Arizona senator, used the forum Saturday to speak directly to female and working-class voters -- both loyal Clinton bases during the Democratic primary -- pledging to attack rising gas prices, make health care more affordable and give women more representation in his administration.

He is urging voters to put "country" before "party."

"We've got to start putting our country first. All my life I have put my country first," McCain said Saturday. "I have a record of reaching across the aisle."

A new McCain group called Citizens for McCain, headed by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., is going after the same demographic. The campaign on Saturday released a list of 30 people, mostly former officials, who had apparently joined the group.

McCain is emboldened by several polls during the primary season in which a significant number of Clinton supporters said they would stay home or vote for the Republican candidate if Obama is the Democratic nominee.

But some analysts say those numbers only reflected the intensity of the Democratic primary campaign, not the actual intentions of Democratic voters come November.

The Obama campaign is playing tough defense against McCain's attempts to pick up the spoils of the Democratic fight.

Attempting to debunk McCain's reputation as a bipartisan maverick, Obama's campaign circulated a statement and held a news conference before his town hall meeting highlighting misconceptions about McCain, especially when it comes to his abortion stance. They say he is masquerading as a friend of female voters.

"The depth of Senator McCain's deceit when it comes to the issues that are important to women can't be overstated," said Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a former Clinton supporter. "This is a person who is the classic example of someone whose voting record is extreme right but his rhetoric is where he pretends to be a moderate."

The campaign said in a statement, "Like Bush, McCain holds staunch anti-choice views." The campaign excerpted polls showing many voters don't know McCain's true position on abortion. As stated on his Web site, McCain wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, which he calls a flawed decision.

For the Arizona senator, targeting Clinton voters will mean going after seniors and Hispanics, as well as women and the white working class.

His campaign appealed to seniors for the second day in a row Saturday, accusing Obama of proposing tax policies harmful to them. Obama's plan would eliminate income taxes for seniors earning less than $50,000, but the McCain campaign has been referencing a new study saying the plan would increase taxes for nearly 10 million senior households.

McCain ran the risk of alienating women voters, though, when he scheduled a fundraiser with Texas oilman Clayton Williams, who infamously joked during his 1990 campaign for governor that women should just give in and "enjoy it" if they're being raped.

The campaign canceled the fundraiser after fielding questions on Williams from reporters. But he reportedly is not returning the more than $300,000 in contributions that Williams helped raise.

In the Obama conference call, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm slammed McCain for accepting money from a man who is "antithetical" to the causes of women.

National polls taken since Obama, a senator from Illinois, clinched the nomination June 3 show him with a consistent, though narrowing, lead over McCain.

The Gallup national tracking poll showed Obama reaching a record 7-point lead Tuesday and a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama with a 6-point lead. But Gallup's most recent numbers Friday and Saturday showed Obama's edge shrinking to 3 points, suggesting the bump he enjoyed after clinching the nomination is leveling off.

So far, there are few recent polls showing where the candidates stand in the battleground states that Clinton won during the primary.

Polls from May show McCain leading in Florida, but they also show Obama leading in Pennsylvania, where the Illinois senator campaigned Saturday. Ohio, another state Clinton won during the primary, went both ways in polls taken last month.

Polls show Democratic strongholds like New York, New Jersey and California are still out of McCain's reach, even though Obama lost those states in the Democratic primary and McCain won them in the GOP contest.

Chris Kofinis, former spokesman for John Edwards when he was a Democratic candidate, said McCain won't go far courting Clinton's base.

"There are raw feelings, there's no question about it," he said. "But at the end of the day the differences between Senator Clinton and SenatorObama pale in comparison to the differences between Senator Obama and Senator McCain."

But like Obama, McCain is taking care to praise Clinton and her historic accomplishment every chance he gets.

"I respect and admire the campaign that she ran. ... Every place I go I'm told that Senator Clinton inspired millions of young women in this country," McCain said Saturday. "I know that she will continue to play a key role in the future of this nation."