The candidates wasted little time in getting back on the campaign trail [GALLO/GETTY]

With the pomp and pageantry of the political party campaigns behim them, Barack Obama, the US Democratic presidential candidate, and John McCain, his Republican rival, are now in the home stretch in the race for the White House.

In focus

In-depth coverage of the US election

In large part, the focus will be on states such as Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida - so-called battleground or swing stages. 

If recent history is anything to go by, it has often been in these states that presidential elections are decided.

They contain a large number of sought-after working class, undecided, independent voters who - in the past - have played a key role in deciding who gets to be the next occupant of the White House.

Female vote

To underscore that point, John McCain and his newly minted running mate, Sarah Palin, left Minnesota immediately after their party's convention and headed straight to the state of Wisconsin for a joint appearance.

It is a state that has been for the Democratic party since 1988, but both sides are aware that in the last two terms, the outcome has been very close.

Palin then heads for her home state of Alaska, where she is governor, before returning to the cut and thrust of campaigning on her own.

Most analysts and commentators on both sides of the political divide agree that she has energised the Republican ticket and poses a major attraction to the vital female vote, something that has not been lost on the Obama campaign.

They are moving fast to undercut her appeal.

Democrat counter-attack

Obama's camp will hope to blunt Palin's appeal to women voters [Reuters]

Among them will be Hillary Clinton, Obama's erstwhile rival, along with others such as Janet Napolitano, the Arizona governor, Kathleen Sibelius, Kansas governor.

For the Obama campaign, countering Palin will be a delicate balancing act. They will want to confront and attack her on policy issues but not be seen as being too hard on her on her personally.

That could engender sympathy from independent women voters and drive them into the Republican camp.

The Democrats will probably employ a "good-cop, bad-cop" approach. 

Debates 'minefield'

Jimmy Carter benefited from his opponent's debate stumble [AFP]

There will be three of them over the next few weeks. There will also be one vice-presidential debate.

The debates have proved to be a minefield in the past. They have the power to make or break a candidate's bid for the White House.

In the 1976 debate between Gerald Ford, the Republican incumbent president and Jimmy Carter, the Democratic contender, Ford all but destroyed his chanced of staying in office by saying he did not believe the then-Soviet Union dominated eastern Europe.

And in 1992 when George H W Bush, father of George Bush, the current US president, glanced at his watch during a debate with Bill Clinton, his Democratic rival and Ross Perot, an independent candidate, he became the target of widespread criticism - and some public opprobrium - from opponents.

Hot commodity?

But the forthcoming could be very different according to one analyst.

Allan Lichtman, a US political historian, told Al Jazeera something remarkable could happen this year.

"There may be more interest in the vice-presidential debate than in the presidential debate," he says.

"Sarah Palin overshadowed John McCain at the Republican convention. She's the hot commodity in the Republican Party."

That debate takes place October 2. The first presidential debate is on September 26.

And these mega-events come with very high stakes.