McCain moves into attack mode before Tuesday debate

NASHVILLE — It's the second round of a scheduled three-rounder and some folks in John McCain's corner acknowledge he is behind on points. And on the eve of Tuesday's Nashville debate, McCain on Monday came out swinging with a new, aggressive, in-your-face attack on Democrat Barack Obama.

In a speech in Albuquerque, McCain clobbered Obama, challenging his record, his honesty, his demeanor and branding him as a "Chicago politician."

The words came as part of a warm-up for the Tuesday night debate — the second of three — at Belmont University.

"Even at this late hour in the campaign, there are essential things we don't know about Senator Obama or the record that he brings to this campaign," McCain said in an indication of the aggressive style he plans to bring to the debate.

McCain said, "Whenever I have questioned his policies or his record, he has called me a liar."

"Rather than answer his critics, Senator Obama will try to distract you from noticing that he never answers the serious and legitimate questions he has been asked," McCain added, portraying himself as a straight-shooter, and adding, "Were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn't seek advice from a Chicago politician."

Obama, McCain charged, responds with "touchiness" whenever questioned about his record. "For a guy who's already authored two memoirs, he's not exactly an open book," McCain said.

The Obama campaign's immediate response came in an e-mail to reporters titled, "Speaking of touchy and angry." It included a Las Vegas newspaper's story detailing McCain's angry responses to several situations through the years.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said McCain's comments were particularly inappropriate Monday.

"On a day when the markets are plunging and the credit crisis is putting millions of jobs at risk, the one truly angry candidate in this race kept up his strategy of 'turning the page' on the economy by unleashing another frustrated tirade against Barack Obama," Vietor said.

McCain's new approach to Obama comes amid polls showing the Democrat solidifying his lead in key states.

"Yeah," said Dan Bartlett, former longtime adviser to President Bush, "(McCain) is a clear underdog. I think the fundamentals of this race have dictated that from the outset."

Former Bush political strategist Karl Rove, after scanning the most recent state polls, now calculates that Obama has "his first lead over the magic number (270) since mid-July." Recent surveys moving Minnesota and New Hampshire from toss-up to favoring Obama gave him 273 electoral votes, three more than needed for victory, according to Rove, who cautions that things could change.

McCain, who needed a come-from-way-behind effort to win the GOP nomination, is counting on change. When a supporter recently asked him when he would get tough on Obama, McCain replied, "How about Tuesday night?"

The stepped-up attacks on Obama began over the weekend and continued Monday through GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who charged that Obama "pals around with terrorists," an attempt to link the Democratic candidate with Bill Ayers, a leader of the violent Weather Underground movement of the 1960s.

"In fact," Palin said at a Sunday event in California, "Obama held one of this first meetings hoping to kick off his political career in Bill Ayers' living room."

The event Palin cited was a meet-the-candidate event at Ayers' Chicago home in the mid-1990s. Ayers and Obama live in the same neighborhood and their children have gone to school together. Obama was 8 years old when Weather Underground said it was involved in bombings, including one that left a California policeman dead.

At a rally in Florida on Monday, Palin said, "I'm afraid (Obama) is someone who sees America as 'imperfect enough' to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country."

In an interview with radio talk show host Tom Joyner on Monday, Obama said he would respond in kind to attacks.

"If Senator McCain wants to have a character debate, I am happy to have that debate," he said, citing McCain's ties to lobbyists as more relevant than Palin's attempts to link him with Ayers, whom he called "somebody who's tangentially related to me."

The Democrats' counter-offensive includes a 13-minute online documentary detailing McCain's link to imprisoned former banker Charles Keating, whom McCain helped before the early 1990s collapse of Keating's savings and loan – a demise that wiped out many depositors' savings.

"The McCain campaign has tried to avoid talking about the scandal, but with so many parallels to the current (economic) crisis, McCain's Keating history is relevant and voters deserve to know the facts and see for themselves the pattern of poor judgment by John McCain," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said in an e-mail to supporters.

McCain was censured by the Senate for accepting gifts and favors from Keating. Washington lawyer John Dowd, who represented McCain in the matter, said Monday the Senate hearings were politically motivated by Democrats.

"It's sort of a classic political smear job on John," Dowd said.

In a conference call with reporters, Dowd said, "The bottom line was that John had not violated any rule of the Senate or any law."

McCain long has been apologetic for what he acknowledged were improper ties to Keating.

What remains to be seen is how – and if – each side will use the new attacks in Tuesday night's debate.

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan sees going negative as a "risky proposition in a debate, especially for McCain."

"He is not comfortable attacking," said McClellan, a George W. Bush aide in the bitter 2000 battle against McCain for the GOP nomination. "It is not his style and it shows. He can come across as over-scripted, irritated and angry."

"Voters will see it for what it is at this stage," said McClellan, who has not announced who he is backing, "a desperate move late in the game by a candidate who is watching the race potentially slip away to his opponent."

Obama's new attack also includes a television ad claiming that McCain – suffering under slumping poll numbers as a result of the economic crisis – wants to "distract with dishonest, dishonorable assaults." The commercial closes with a consistent, core message from the Democrats – a relentless effort to link McCain with President Bush.

"We can't afford another president who's this out of touch," the ad concludes.

McCain wants no part of linkages to Bush, a president with persistently low approval ratings. The White House said Bush is willing to oblige.

"The president can be most helpful in helping the down-ballot candidates build the resources they need to win," said spokesman Scott Stanzel, noting Bush's Monday appearance at a GOP fundraising event in San Antonio. "We don't expect any more joint campaign appearances with Senator McCain, and haven't for some time."

Bush has made no public campaign appearances with McCain, though he did attend a closed-to-the-press fundraiser with the GOP candidate.

In last week's vice presidential debate, Democratic candidate Joe Biden made frequent attempts to link Bush and McCain. Democratic officials say it's a tactic that will continue through Election Day.

"John McCain may not want to be seen in public with President Bush, but since McCain brags about voting with the president 90 percent of the time and is promising more of the same failed policies, its almost like George Bush campaigns with John McCain every day," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien Lavera.