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WASHINGTON: Republican John McCain, under fire for a mocking offensive on Barack Obama's star power, lashed out on Thursday at his Democratic White House rival for playing the "race card."
The presidential race took another nasty lurch with McCain's campaign reacting furiously to claims from the African-American Obama that his opponents plan to exploit his name and appearance as an electoral issue.
"Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong," said McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis in a statement.
In Missouri on Wednesday, Obama had said McCain's campaign was mounting personal attacks against him to divert attention from what he said was a dearth of solutions to America's problems.
"You know, 'he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills, you know, he's risky,'" Obama said, mocking supposed attacks against him.
Race has not so far emerged as a major issue in the contest between McCain and Obama, who is vying to be the first black president in US history.
But former president Bill Clinton did complain that Obama aides were exploiting the race issue to curry favor with African-American voters, during the Democratic primary race with Hillary Clinton.
The spat was the latest exchange in an increasingly personal contest, and came a day after McCain's camp mocked Obama's celebrity by comparing him in a television ad to troubled pop culture icons Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
"You know, the last time I saw Britney Spears on stage with a politician, the guy looked a lot like John McCain. Because that's who it was. It was John McCain," Obama's communications director Robert Gibbs observed on MSNBC.
Gibbs appeared to be referring to McCain's attendance at the 1999 MTV music awards in New York, when Spears performed. The singer has since spoken of her respect for President George W. Bush.
"The McCain campaign has decided, apparently, that the best way and the only way that they can win this campaign is to become very personal and very negative," the Obama aide said.
"Look, we're going to let them take the low road. It's a place that they feel very comfortable in. We're going to talk about the issues that are facing this country, joblessness in this county and how to create good jobs."
The Obama campaign responded to McCain's "Celeb" ad with its own called "Low Road," which accused the Republican of practising "the politics of the past." The Democratic Party also punched back with an ad entitled "Desperate Times."
However, polls suggested that McCain's attempts to portray Obama as a liberal elitist who is only at home in the adulation of adoring crowds are making some inroads.
The latest Gallup daily tracking poll said a small bounce enjoyed by Obama since his much-hyped foreign tour last week had evaporated. It said Obama had 45 percent to McCain's 44, a statistical dead heat.
McCain meanwhile is gaining on the Illinois senator in the pivotal swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to new Quinnipiac University polls.
The Connecticut university said Obama had seemingly gained no traction from his tour of Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Europe, which was designed to flag his credentials to serve as commander-in-chief.
In a CNN/Opinion Research poll late Wednesday, 40 percent of respondents said McCain was attacking Obama unfairly. But 44 percent also felt the Democrat was acting as if he has already won November's election.
McCain campaign adviser Nicolle Wallace was unapologetic about the Spears-Hilton ad, which came after the Republican had said Obama would rather lose the war in Iraq than lose the election.
"If you came out here with us, you'd see that we have supportive crowds who really ask us about the issues," she said on MSNBC.
"They ask us about the economy. They want to talk about our plans for keeping the country safe. And that's the campaign we're running." - AFP/de
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