Imagine this: After a long day at work, you're stirring a pot of spaghetti when the phone rings. It's John McCain.

This wasn't a telemarketing joke -- the McCain campaign Tuesday night called 50,000 Democratic and independent voters who live in Broward and Palm Beach counties for a ''tele-townhall meeting'' with the presidential candidate. About 4,500 people participated.

The campaign says the voters were randomly selected and could ask the presumptive Republican nominee whatever they wanted, though the topics were screened.

The event was part of a series of in-person and call-in meetings that McCain is hosting with Democrats and independent voters as he tries to distance himself from an unpopular Republican administration.

''The last eight years haven't been that great -- they've been a disaster,'' a man who identified himself as Michael from Broward County told the Arizona senator. ``What assurances do we have that it's not going to be the same old thing?''

McCain noted that he has clashed with Bush on climate change, interrogation of suspected terrorists and management of the war in Iraq.

''I honestly believe it is time for change in Washington,'' said McCain, who was on the line from California. ``The question is whether it's the right change or the wrong change.''

With Democrat Barack Obama expected to raise tens of millions of dollars more than McCain, call-in meetings are a cheap way for McCain to reach a mass audience in a costly battleground state like Florida.

Obama began running television ads in 18 states last week, including Florida, while McCain is currently airing less-expensive ads on cable.

The callers Tuesday night were all friendly and mostly complimentary. McCain fielded questions for about 45 minutes on taxes, public education and healthcare.

In a nod to South Florida's large Jewish population, McCain vowed to enforce tough sanctions against the anti-Israel leader of Iran and to ''prevent another Holocaust.'' He also repeated his call for the federal government to allow oil drilling off Florida's coast.

OBAMA'S PLEDGE

In Jacksonville last week, Obama promised to continue the federal ban on offshore drilling because, he said, drilling would not lower gas prices and could harm the environment. Obama's campaign has also tried to drive a wedge between McCain and Florida voters by assailing his opposition to a national catastrophic insurance fund.

''Sen. McCain is the most anti-Florida presidential candidate in modern history,'' said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler of Boca Raton, in a call with reporters arranged by the Obama campaign before the McCain meeting.

A new Miami Herald poll shows Obama 16 points ahead of McCain in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Pollster John Zogby said the survey suggests Obama will be competitive in Florida, though Democratic nominee John Kerry won South Florida by 19 points and still lost to President Bush in 2004.

''We do have some work to do, simply because Sen. Obama has not spent a lot of time in Florida,'' Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston said during the Obama campaign call.

`WINNING IN IRAQ'

McCain was introduced at the ''tele-townhall'' by Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee well known in South Florida from his frequent appearances in the 2000 campaign. McCain and Lieberman advocated increasing troops in Iraq, while Obama has opposed the war from the start.

''I was right. He was wrong,'' McCain said. ``We are winning in Iraq.''

But polls show most voters remain opposed to the war. Robin in Parkland, who described herself as a Democrat and former Hillary Clinton supporter, said she was worried about her sons, ages 10 and 12.

''What assurances do I have that my children will not be sent to war?'' she asked.

Responded McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam: ``I think we live in a dangerous world, and I have to give you some straight talk . . . I can't guarantee you I won't send anyone in harm's way, but I can tell you that I know war, I hate war, and it will be the last choice I will make.''

After McCain hung up the phone, voters were told they could leave messages and the campaign would respond.

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