A fiery Joe Biden ridiculed Republican John McCain's comments on the economy Sunday and refuted attacks on Barack Obama's positions as "a bunch of malarky."

Echoing his speech at last month's party convention, the Democratic vice presidential candidate told around 1,200 people at Charlotte's Phillip O. Berry Academy that McCain "Just doesn't get it.” The Delaware senator mocked McCain's statement that the economy is fundamentally strong and has progressed.

"I could walk from here to Greensboro," he said, "I wouldn't run into one person who thought we'd made economic progress unless I ran into John McCain."

Biden's visit was the first to North Carolina by any of the major candidates since the conventions. It underscored the campaign's effort to make North Carolina a battleground state. He stressed that during an earlier fundraiser at the south Charlotte home of Crandall Bowles, the former CEO of Springs Global and a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton during the primary.

Read the full story at CharlotteObserver.com.