YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- With Democrats still battling next-door, Republican Sen. John McCain went across the border yesterday, honing his economic message for the presidential campaign to come.

In the second of a five-day tour of what he calls "forgotten places in America," the presumed GOP nominee talked about an economic platform that was short on promises for minimum wage increases or stopping the flow of U.S. jobs to China, subjects the Democrats have been talking about for weeks in Pennsylvania.

Rather, it was about cutting taxes, cutting pork-barrel projects and government waste and retraining laid off-workers -- especially from manufacturing areas such as Youngstown -- to do new, 21st-century jobs.

Foreign policy is seen as the Vietnam War veteran's main expertise, but with polls showing budget worries are the top voter concern, his campaign lately has been all economics, all the time. Last week, he unveiled plans for a gasoline tax holiday, home loan assistance and other measures in a speech at Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr. McCain told reporters yesterday that he looks forward to debating the issues with the eventual Democratic nominee.

"I think both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama are out of touch. They don't understand America's economy," the Arizona senator said.

He also distanced himself from speculation that an ongoing, negative Democratic race will help his chances in November. One could argue the attention Democrats are getting and their voter registration efforts could offset any positives, he said.

"I don't have a view on that. ... There are arguments I've heard on both sides," he told reporters.

In an hour-long town hall-style talk to 650 people at Youngstown State University, Mr. McCain noted how unfamiliar it was to be the last man standing, only months after his campaign was left for dead.

"It was a different story last year when I could claim the unqualified support of [wife] Cindy and my mother -- and my mom was starting to keep her options open," he told the crowd.

He then used that up-by-the-bootstraps message to talk about jobs and economic woes.

"If you hold on, you hold on, if you don't quit no matter what the odds are, sometimes life will surprise you. ... The men and women of Youngstown know what it feels like to be counted out. You've been written off a few times yourself in the competition of the market," he said.

Youngstown, a kind of poster child for Rust Belt woes, has lost more than 40,000 jobs since its signature steel industry collapsed in the 1970s and '80s. Its population is less than half its peak of 170,000 in the 1950s. About 25 percent of those who remain live below the poverty line.

Mr. McCain said government-supported job education and training programs -- particularly in computers and technology -- were the best answer for laid off workers, rather than restricting free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (a major punching bag in the Democratic campaign).

He said problems facing manufacturing in Youngstown and similar places were "hard, tough and tragic," but "I can't tell you that these jobs are ever going to come back to this magnificent part of the country. But I can tell you I will commit myself to providing these workers who have lost a job another chance, a second chance," he said.

Mr. McCain called rising energy prices "a national security issue and it strikes right at the heart of the economic difficulties we have today," including rising food prices.

He called for investment in green alternatives such as wind and solar power and added "nuclear power has to be part of any equation to succeed."

Mr. McCain also visited two Youngstown-area industrial sites yesterday, one a shuttered metal fabricating facility and the other a successful, technology-based manufacturing site.

The McCain campaign's "It's Time For Action" economic tour stopped Monday in Selma, Ala., where black protesters were beaten in a 1965 march for voting rights, and goes next to Inez, Ky., where President Lyndon Johnson unveiled his war on poverty. Then it's on to Louisiana and Arkansas.

Mr. McCain did not mention the Iraq war, though veterans were sprinkled throughout the crowd. Keith Roberts, 52, of New Castle, said his number one issue is not the economy but rather "resolving the Iraq conflict. We have no business leaving, after messing up that country."

But Navy veteran William Craig -- who was in the same squadron with Mr. McCain on the USS Enterprise in the 1960s -- said the economy, and particularly the mounting cost of gasoline, is what worries him most. So far, he's heard no solid ideas for combating gasoline prices.

"I'm not really sure what to do. They've got to do something, and quickly. Things seem to be spiraling out of control," said the Niles, Ohio, 65-year-old.

The crowd was largely older, especially for a college campus. But a gaggle of young supporters lined the back of the room, including Boardman, Ohio, high school senior Greg Knight, who said his first presidential vote will go to Mr. McCain for two main reasons: his pro-life stance and his military service.

The latter "speaks to his ability and his toughness -- which should serve him in the campaign and carry him to the presidency," he said.

"He makes a stand. He doesn't pull punches," said the 18- year-old, who will attend Dartmouth College in the fall. "He's someone who's going to stand for exactly what they believe."