ASHEVILLE, N.C. — One day after John McCain's running mate escalated the vitriol of the presidential campaign by invoking a 1960s radical, Barack Obama accused Republicans of trying to distract voters from the sagging economy with "smears"
Speaking to thousands of voters Sunday afternoon at Asheville High School, the Democratic nominee argued that McCain shares President Bush's economic philosophy.
"Sen. McCain and his operatives are gambling that they can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance," Obama said. "They'd rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up. That's what you do when you're out of touch, out of ideas and running out of time."
The dust-up comes as Obama's poll numbers have risen in recent weeks, even in some traditionally Republican states, as Wall Street's woes dominate the news. According to several polls, more voters see Obama as better able to handle the economy than McCain.
Last week, senior McCain advisor Greg Strimple telegraphed the strategy, telling reporters that the campaign would be aggressive during the final 30 days before the election. He said they would be "looking to turning the page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama's liberal, aggressively liberal, record and how he will be too risky for the Americans."
The new strategy was evident this weekend when Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Obama is "palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." Campaigning in California, Texas and Nebraska, the Alaska governor said she was referring to Obama's acquaintance with William Ayers, who helped found the radical Weather Underground in the 1960s. The group planned a series of bombings targeting the Capitol and the Pentagon. Ayers acknowledged involvement in bombings but was not convicted of terrorist acts.
Obama, who was born in 1961, has denounced Ayers' conduct and has pointed out that he was a child during Ayers' radical years. He and Ayers met decades later, when they were working on education issues in Chicago. Ayers, now an education professor, hosted a coffee for Obama in the mid-1990s.
Palin noted that the New York Times had written about the Ayers-Obama link. The article concluded, however, that the men were not close.
In North Carolina, Obama warned that his opponents wanted to change the subject.
