Republican presidential nominee John McCain began his "It's Time for Action Tour" of rural America Monday morning with a visit to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. (Above.) The bridge is where, in 1965, civil rights marchers were beaten by police in a confrontation known as "Bloody Sunday."

McCain will be in Youngstown, Ohio, the mountains of Kentucky and will visit Katrina victims in New Orleans. "We will travel to areas of this country that in many ways have been forgotten and left behind," McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt said.

McCain left Selma for other small Alabama towns, including Camden, Gee's Bend and Thomasville. "I am aware the African-American vote has been very small in favor of the Republican Party. I am aware of the challenges, and I am aware of the fact that there will be many people who will not vote for me, but I'm going to be the president of all the people," McCain said in Selma.