McCain, Obama Campaigns Lob Race-Card Accusations

By JONATHAN WEISMAN

By Jonathan Weisman and Juliet Eilperin

The Washington Post

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa

Sen. John McCain’s campaign accused Sen. Barack Obama of playing the race card on Thursday, a day after the Democrat said his opponent and other Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing to Obama’s “funny name” and the fact that “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills.”

The charge was the first time the campaigns had directly confronted the subject of race. Both sides have sought to avoid raising the issue, but the back-and-forth showed that it was perhaps inevitable the topic would emerge .

The exchange was reminiscent of several flare-ups over race during the Democratic primaries, when the Obama campaign complained about comments made by Bill Clinton in support of the candidacy of his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The former president responded by accusing the Obama campaign of “feeding” the news media to keep the issue of race alive. Obama also tackled the issue in a major speech in Philadelphia to quell controversy over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., his former pastor.

The McCain campaign’s charge comes in a week in which it launched increasingly harsh attacks against Obama, accusing the Democrat of turning his back on wounded troops and being an arrogant, out-of- touch celebrity who does not appreciate the problems of average Americans.

In recent days, McCain has aired advertisements and issued a statement comparing his opponent to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, accusing him of canceling a visit to wounded veterans because he could not bring along a media entourage, and suggesting he would raise taxes on electricity – all questionable assertions.

Battling what aides called McCain’s “gutter distractions,” Obama’s team continued to push back Thursday on the stump and launched a Web site called the Low Road Express.

McCain aides said they were driven to raise the race issue after three Obama appearances Wednesday in Missouri, in which the Democrat took on McCain’s recent aggressiveness and alluded to remarks about his name and looks that McCain campaign officials said have never been uttered.

“Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck,” McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement. “It’s divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.”

Obama began Wednesday in Springfield, Mo., charging: “Nobody really thinks that Bush or McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face, so what they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me. 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.”

In Rolla and then in Union, Obama issued similar lines. “They’re going to try to say, ‘Well, you know, he’s got a funny name, and he doesn’t look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five-dollar bills,’ and they’re going to send out nasty e-mails,” he told an audience in Union.

E-mails making false charges against Obama have circulated for months, but there is no evidence that McCain’s campaign has been behind them.

Obama aides said the candidate’s remarks were no different from applause lines he has used for months. At a mid-June fundraiser in Jacksonville, Fla., for instance, Obama said: “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?’ “

But Obama did appear to expand upon the theme by linking the attacks to McCain by name. Asked what specifically Obama was referring to, campaign manager David Plouffe avoided the question, saying, “What we’re seeing out of the McCain campaign, the Republican Party and some of their allies have been some very aggressive charges.”

Obama strategist Robert Gibbs said separately, “Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using race as an issue, but he does believe they’re using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign, and those are the issues he’ll continue to talk about.”

McCain aides acknowledged that Obama has leveled similar accusations for some time, but said the insinuation that McCain himself was a party to racism required a response.

Michelle Obama in Norfolk

Michelle Obama will appear Wednesday night at a fundraiser in Norfolk hosted by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and first lady Anne Holton, the campaign said.

The fundraiser will be at the Harrison Opera House and will feature a performance by singer Bruce Hornsby.

Tickets are $100 per person and $50 for students. VIP tickets cost $2,500, and the Obama campaign Web site says a $10,000 donation qualifies a donor to be a “co-host.”

Kaine is on the list of potential running mates for Obama.

– Patrick Wilson

Originally published by BY JONATHAN WEISMAN.

(c) 2008 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.