GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden on Monday cast White House hopeful Barack Obama with presidential giants, likening attacks against his running mate to criticisms lobbed against Thomas Jefferson's Christianity, Abraham Lincoln's commitment to individual rights and John F. Kennedy, for being a "dangerous choice in difficult times."

"Sound familiar?" Biden asked the crowd. "The defenders of the status quo have always tried to tear down those who would change our nation for the better."

Obama, a Christian born in Hawaii to a white mother and a black father, has been shadowed by rumors that he is a Muslim born outside the United States.

Republican rival John McCain has long questioned whether Obama, a former Illinois state senator and first-term U.S. senator, is ready to lead the country. A recent GOP mailer in North Carolina stirred questions Obama by saying he is "not who you think he is."

Biden was making his pitch in a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1976 and like many Southern states that have trended dependably Republican for years, turned into a battleground up and down the ticket.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, former president of the American Red Cross and a one-time presidential candidate, is in a neck-and-neck battle with Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan — a tough position for any incumbent eight days out from the Nov. 4 election.

Biden has become Obama's leading surrogate in North Carolina, returning Monday just four days after completing a three-city bus tour. While Obama's candidacy has pushed a historic number of black voters to the polls here, Biden draws perhaps a more important crowd: white Democrats who are more conservative than counterparts elsewhere in the country and who are often skeptical about supporting their party's candidates for national office.

Even while speaking in some of North Carolina's largest black communities, Biden's crowds are largely white. At East Carolina University, he didn't draw many students going to class but instead spoke mostly to adults from the surrounding community.

He's tried to bring the Southern white appeal Obama lacks — talking about NASCAR, repeatedly addressing the crowd as "folks" and talking about the issues facing the state's faltering manufacturing industry.

"Ladies and gentlemen, ultimately, it's all about jobs," he said. "This state's textile industry is getting killed."

Biden said fair trade is more important than free trade to ensure that U.S. workers can compete in international markets.

He appeared later Monday at a rally in New Port Richey, Fla., north of Tampa, where he echoed his earlier comments about restoring the middle class. He also spoke of helping the thousands of Floridians who face losing their homes, and repeated the campaign's call for a three-month halt to home foreclosures.

"If we can help Wall Street we can help Grand Boulevard and all the streets here," Biden told the crowd of about 3,000 supporters, who clapped and cheered.

Recent polls show Obama and McCain in a tight race for Florida, with the Republican nominee leading in the central Florida region, where Biden campaigned. McCain supporters rallied outside Biden's event.

Biden equated McCain's economic policies with those of the Bush administration.

"Look folks, I know Halloween is Friday, but John McCain dressed as an agent of change. That costume doesn't fit," Biden said, prompting more cheers.

He also was spending Tuesday in Florida, campaigning in Ocala and Melbourne.

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Associated Press writer Christine Armario in New Port Richey, Fla., contributed to this report.