Obama turns focus back to McCain

Calls criticisms of Palin political, not personal

Barack Obama, who greeted supporters yesterday after speaking at rally in Lancaster, Pa., dismissed GOP complaints that Palin was being treated unfairly. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

ST. PAUL - Barack Obama's campaign used a carefully calibrated two-track approach yesterday to respond to the sharp attacks from Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Obama brushed aside questions about Palin, saying he preferred to focus on Republican nominee John McCain, while some of his surrogates portrayed the Alaska governor as a "frightening" fringe politician.

Obama deflected a question about whether Palin had transformed the race with her prime-time speech Wednesday night and self-described role as a campaign "pit bull."

"I've been called worse on the basketball court," the Illinois senator told reporters in York, Pa. "I think ultimately this race is going to be about myself and John McCain, and who is in a better position to lead the country."

Obama also dismissed Republicans' complaints that Palin, who was formally nominated last night to be the second woman on a major party's ticket, was being treated unfairly because of her gender. "I assume she wants to be treated the same way guys are treated, which means their records are under scrutiny. I've been through this for 19 months. She's been through this for, what, four days so far?"

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in an interview in St. Paul that "to the extent we are making an argument against the ticket, it will be about the fact that John McCain is out of touch."

Vietor denied that the Obama campaign was reluctant to go after Palin on grounds that an argument about her inexperience could backfire on Obama, who has been a US senator for less than four years. Vietor said the campaign would continue to point out what it believes to be false statements by Palin, such as her assertion that she was against the infamous "bridge to nowhere." Palin originally supported the federal earmark but later opposed it.

Palin's speech created extraordinary interest, drawing about 40 million viewers, about as many as the record viewership for Obama's acceptance speech last week, according to the Nielsen Media Research and PBS.

The heightened interest in Palin, and the generally positive reviews of her speech, spread concerns among some Democrats that Palin had turned overnight from a potential drag on the Republican ticket to a major asset.

But Democrats stressed that voters are still learning about Palin's record, which is likely to be the subject of intense scrutiny in the weeks leading up the vice presidential debate, to be held on Oct. 2 in St. Louis.

"This is a tough nut for Democrats to crack," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "They don't want to make Palin a more sympathetic figure by beating up on her, thus helping her to attract swing independents, especially women, who will rush to her side. At the same time, Democrats can't just let her run wild, saying whatever she wants, since an attack unanswered is an attack agreed to."

Sabato said that the "worst thing they could do is to permit Obama to be drawn into battle" with Palin. That, he said, "is Joe Biden's job."

Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, searched yesterday for a way to be personally kind to Palin while being politically critical. He said her speech was impressive and was delivered extremely well, describing her with words such as "strong" and "tough." He said on Fox News Channel that she will be an "incredibly skillful debater" and praised the "absolutely exemplary" way she has raised her family.

But Biden said Palin's speech was without substance and vowed to challenge her on the issues.

"I didn't hear the phrase 'middle class' mentioned," Biden said on "The Early Show" on CBS. "I didn't hear a word about healthcare. I didn't hear a single word about what we're going to do about the housing crisis, college education, all the things that the middle class is being burdened by now.

"There was a deafening silence about the hole that the Republicans have dug us into and any specific answers as to how the McCain-Palin ticket is going to get us out of that hole," he added.

Despite the efforts of Obama and Biden to avoid any vitriol about Palin, Obama's campaign arranged for a conference call on which two prominent Democratic women attacked her as a fringe politician who is unprepared to be in the White House. (Obama aides say to combat Palin, they will dispatch prominent Democratic women to battleground states, including Hillary Clinton to Florida on Monday, the New York Times reported last night.)

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius told reporters that Palin is "on the radical fringe of the Republican party" on abortion, a reference to Palin's opposition to abortion even in cases of rape and incest. That is a stronger anti-abortion stance than that held by McCain, who would allow for exceptions in those cases.

US Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who also participated in the conference call, said Palin's lack of foreign policy experience was frightening. "Really, what if something happens to John McCain?" Wasserman said.

In California, Senator Barbara Boxer told reporters that Palin is "way out of the mainstream" and "anti-science," citing the Alaska governor's skeptical views on global warming and stem cell research.

Unbowed, Palin stayed on the attack yesterday in her first solo campaign appearance, repeating before a gathering of GOP governors the criticism that Obama voted "present" as an Illinois legislator. "We don't have a 'present' button as governor - we are expected to lead, we are expected to take action and not just vote 'present,' " Palin said. "So there's a big difference, of course, between the executive and legislative branches and our experience."

It turned out that one thing Democrats and Republicans agreed on about Palin's speech: It's a great fund-raising tool.

Early yesterday, Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, asked supporters to contribute so Democrats could fight back against what he called the Republicans' "negative, cynical" attacks. He specifically mentioned Palin's sarcastic jabs at Obama's post-college years as a community organizer in Chicago. By last night, the Obama campaign said, it had raised $10 million since Palin's speech, a one-day record.

Later yesterday, McCain's campaign sent an e-mail from Palin asking supporters to help fight the Democrats' "vicious" attacks.

"As you've seen this week, the Obama/Biden Democrats have been vicious in their attacks directed toward me, my family, and John McCain," she wrote. "The misinformation and flat-out lies must be corrected."

McCain's campaign later acknowledged that the Obama campaign is not directly responsible for the attacks.

Material from the Associated Press was also used in this report. Michael Kranish can be reached at kranish@globe.com.