“We’re doing fine,” Sen. McCain (Ariz.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. “We have closed in the last week... You’ll be up very, very late on election night.”

McCain argued that the race will tighten because people are learning more about Obama’s economic policies. McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), have portrayed Obama as a liberal who would increase spending and raise taxes as president. The Republican on Sunday said that the last president to follow such policies was Herbert Hoover, who oversaw the start of the Great Depression.

“We just figured it out with Joe the Plumber,” McCain said. “Americans just figured it out. [Obama] wants to spread the wealth around.”

While McCain stopped short of calling Obama’s policies “socialism,” he criticized the Democrat’s record.

Obama has “start[ed] out on the left-hand lane of American politics,” the GOP noninee said. “He has remained there.”

McCain on Sunday also pushed back against criticism of Palin, whose unfavorable rating is higher than her favorable rating in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

“It sounds like I’m ‘defending her’,” McCain said. “But the fact is, she’s a dynamic person with executive experience.”

McCain dismissed criticism over the $150,000 spent by the Republican National Committee on her GOP convention wardrobe. He noted that some of that money will be donated to charity. “She lives a frugal life,” McCain said. “She and her family are not wealthy... She and her family were thrust into that. Some of that money will be given back.”