ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — John McCain and Barack Obama's presidential duel moved west yesterday as the candidates held rallies in New Mexico and Nevada, key contests in the final 10 days of the race.

Fewer than 1,000 supporters came out to cheer McCain at a morning rally under crisp blue skies at the State Fair Grounds in Albuquerque. Making his sixth visit to New Mexico, the four-term Republican senator from neighboring Arizona touted his understanding of regional concerns, including water rights and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"My friends, Senator Obama has never been south of our border," McCain said. "He doesn't know these issues. I know them. ... I'm proud to be a senator from the west." But Obama's aides noted that the Democrat visited Mexico while in college.

McCain trails Obama in New Mexico by 8 percentage points in an average of recent polls, according to realclearpolitics.com.

Early voting began statewide Oct. 18. Obama's campaign says that Democrats have cast half of all early and absentee votes in New Mexico so far, with Republicans and independents splitting the rest.

The Democratic nominee rejoined the campaign trail yesterday after taking a break to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawai'i.

Speaking to more than 11,000 supporters at the University of Nevada-Reno, Obama compared McCain to President Bush nearly two dozen times.

"John McCain is so opposed to George Bush's policies that he voted with him 90 percent of the time for the first eight years. That's right, he decided to really stick it to George Bush — 10 percent of the time.

"Well, let's be clear," Obama said. "John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy. ... It's like Tonto getting mad at the Lone Ranger."

Obama spent most of the day in Nevada, which has five electoral votes.

His campaign is aggressively courting early voters, and more than 200,000 Nevadans have cast their ballots so far. The campaign says 53 percent of those are Democrats.

Insisting that Obama will impose a "massive new tax increase" — a charge the Democrat denies — McCain warned that Democrats will "lower our defenses and raise our taxes. I want to raise our defense and lower our taxes."

McCain also warned that if Obama is elected, he will be "tested" by America's enemies abroad and be found wanting. McCain said that he himself is prepared to push back but that Obama isn't: "I have been tested, and I will test them."

McCain also pressed a theme that aides believe appeals to independents and other voters: that electing him helps prevent one-party control of the White House and Congress.

"Sen. Obama is measuring the drapes and is planning with (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid to increase spending, raise taxes and concede defeat in Iraq," McCain said.