Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin get their turn today.

The Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees will spend most of the day in Lancaster County, culminating with a rally at Franklin & Marshall College this afternoon, just five days after Democratic nominee Barack Obama drew about 15,000 to a rally at nearby Buchanan Park.

"Pennsylvania is the key to the race and the nation," state GOP spokesman Michael Barley said Monday. "And Lancaster is one of the key counties for the state."

Local Republicans ran out of tickets Monday afternoon for the rally, scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. in the F&M Alumni Sports & Fitness Center, and many people were turned away disappointed. More than 6,500 people are expected to attend the rally. Parked outside GOP headquarters at 902 Columbia Ave. was the new 39-foot "Pennsylvania Straight Talk Express" RV, complete with a picture of McCain on its side.

Doors open at 12:30 p.m., and parking will not be available on campus. Attendees are encouraged to find parking elsewhere in the city.

Originally scheduled to be a townhall-style event where audience members could ask questions, campaign organizers changed today's appearance to a rally after it was announced Palin, the governor of Alaska, would attend. No audience interaction is expected to take place.

"Coming off the convention, there's this almost rock star sort of an enthusiasm which is out there," said Dave Dumeyer, chairman of the local GOP. "You try to maximize that the best you can. A townhall-style meeting matches McCain's personal style, but with her on the ticket, the throngs just want to hear her, just want to see her."

Andrea Mead, a spokeswoman for Obama, slammed the McCain campaign for its barrage of negative ads targeting what they say is Obama's celebrity and the big crowds he draws, then turning around and trying to hold large rallies.

"I've seen repeated contradictions, and this shift in this kind of event is another piece of what I'm seeing," Mead said.

Dumeyer said McCain today needs to address economic issues, especially considering the federal takeover of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and statistics showing unemployment rising above 6 percent for the first time since 2003.

"It's going to be important to him to indicate what he's going to do about the economy," Dumeyer said. "It may not be tomorrow, but it's got to start coming out. We're also going to have to look and see where we are with the taxes. He has to re-emphasize that he's going to try to maintain the Bush tax cuts and keep money in people's pockets rather than raise taxes, like the Obama plan."

While McCain proposes slashing taxes for all income brackets — the deepest cuts for those making $2.87 million or more — Obama's proposed tax cuts go three times deeper for middle- and low-income earners, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Obama would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans by rolling back the Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 to the levels they were in the 1990s.

More than 6,500 are expected to attend today's rally.

McCain and Palin are expected to be onboard the Straight Talk Express airliner when it lands at Lancaster Airport about 1:30 p.m. Any scheduled events in the two hours between their arrival and the F&M rally could not be confirmed Monday night.

Republicans say Palin has boosted excitement for the event.

"Once he named Sarah Palin to the ticket, it didn't just change people's attitudes toward McCain, it changed their work level," Dumeyer said. "Now they're volunteering for McCain. I haven't seen anything like this in a long, long time."

Palin has been criticized for avoiding media questions, and she's not expected to field any questions from reporters or the public while in Lancaster.

"We don't know anything about her," Mead said. "We literally know nothing about her. We heard her at the convention, but she said little about who she is. She did not talk about the middle class, about health care or about energy policy."

Her first interview is scheduled with Charles Gibson of ABC News later this week.

The latest analysis of voter polls done by Realclearpolitics.com shows Obama holding a 4.7 percent lead over McCain in Pennsylvania, which has 21 electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 to win the presidency, and Pennsylvania is seen as one of the most important battleground state.

E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com