McCain camp accuses Obama of playing race card

By Steve Holland

RACINE, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain's campaign accused Democrat Barack Obama on Thursday of playing racial politics in some of the most biting back-and-forth of the presidential campaign.

The negative twist in the campaign for the November 4 election was prompted by a McCain television advertisement on Wednesday that called Obama a celebrity akin to star-crossed U.S. personalities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

In response, Obama said McCain was trying to scare voters away from him by pointing out he has "a funny name, and he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills."

Obama, whose father was Kenyan, would be the first black U.S. president. Only white men, most of them former presidents, are on U.S. paper currency.

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

Obama fired back during a town hall meeting in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, saying the attacks did not help voters deal with the array of problems they face.

"You'd think we'd be having a serious debate but so far all we've been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I do have to ask my opponent: Is that the best you can come up with?" Obama said.

He said McCain had pledged to run an honorable campaign but had fallen back into "these negative ads, these negative attacks."

But McCain said "we're proud of that commercial" in speaking to a friendly audience at a town hall meeting in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

"I admire his campaign, but what we are talking about here is substance and not style. And what we're talking about is who has an agenda for the future of America. Campaigns are tough, but I am proud of the campaign that we have run," McCain said.

UNDERDOG

The McCain campaign is trying to shake up a race that currently favors Obama at a time when the U.S. economy is weak, the U.S. military is stretched fighting two wars, and the annual budget deficit is approaching a half trillion dollars.

The McCain campaign believes the 71-year-old Arizona senator is the underdog but that the race is close and is trying to paint Obama as an inexperienced lightweight.

McCain went through a point-by-point litany of questions about Obama's positions on taxes, energy and the Iraq war.

Noting Obama's opposition to offshore oil drilling, he said his Democratic rival had urged Americans to make sure their tires were properly inflated as a way to increase gas mileage.