McCain camp unloads new lines of attack

Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s campaign insisted Monday that there are several ways for the Arizona senator to get to the 270 electoral votes necessary to prevail on Election Day. 

The campaign also unveiled several new criticisms of Democratic rival Barack Obama. The McCain camp sought to raise doubts about the Illinois senator’s record fundraising haul in September, how he would respond to the international test his running mate predicted over the weekend and which team he is really supporting in the World Series.

{mosads}Following a weekend filled with good news — $150 million raised in September and the endorsement of former Secretary of State Colin Powell — the Obama campaign was hit with a flurry of attacks from McCain and the Republican National Committee (RNC) Monday as early voting kicked off in swing states like Florida.

Republicans jammed reporters with conference calls throughout the day — one featuring former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was postponed after a 20-minute wait — asserting that new questions were being raised about Obama and that polls, which had shown the Democrat running away with the race, are now reflecting a tightening contest.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis kicked things off Monday by questioning the legitimacy of some of the donors that helped Obama shatter every fundraising record this year, most recently with his eye-popping September haul. He repeated McCain’s argument that so much money usually invites corruption.

Davis admonished the Obama campaign for not disclosing its donors who have contributed less than $200, which by law the campaign is not required to do. The Republicans, Davis said, are launching a searchable database on Tuesday that will allow those interested to look up every donor and how much they contributed within 24 hours of the donation.

“So our house is right,” Davis said.

Davis, who stated that, regardless of the outcome of the race, Obama will be known as “the greatest fundraiser in presidential political history,” alternated by congratulating the Democrat’s campaign for its September numbers and placing “shame on them” for not reporting who each donor is, referring to reports that some earlier contributions were found to have come from foreign, unknown or illegal origins.

Davis acknowledged that he would like to have the money to make the media buys that the Obama campaign is making in places like Philadelphia. He added, however, that he is absolutely confident the McCain campaign has the money to compete with Obama.

“Does it put us at a financial disadvantage? Absolutely,” Davis said.

McCain's campaign manager also said that, despite the "nay-sayers" who think the campaign should have pulled out of some states, he still believes that McCain is in a position to win in states like Pennsylvania, Nevada and Iowa. Obama appears to be consistently polling outside the margin of error in those three states.

Later in the day, McCain political director Mike DuHaime and RNC political director Rich Beeson were joined on a conference call with McCain’s southwest campaign manager, Buzz Jacobs, to insist that it is McCain who enjoys the absentee voting advantage in Florida. Obama was in the Sunshine State Monday to promote early voting.

Jacobs said Republicans in Florida have voted absentee 17 percent more than Democrats, and all three men said the campaign there is close to replicating the GOTV and volunteer success the Bush-Cheney campaign enjoyed in 2004.

Beeson said Florida is “one of my most solid Victory organizations around the country.”

While in Florida, Obama reportedly said he was “sending some love” out to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who defeated the Boston Red Sox Sunday night to win the American League pennant. The RNC pounced on that, too, noting that most recently Obama said he would support the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series after his Chicago White Sox were eliminated.

And later in the afternoon, on the postponed Giuliani call, the former mayor seized on Obama running mate Sen. Joe Biden’s (D-Del.) remarks over the weekend that Obama will likely be tested by an international crisis early in his administration if he is elected.

The combination of attacks led the Obama campaign to accuse the McCain camp of “flailing,” as spokesman Hari Sevugan circulated an email outlining McCain's varying lines of criticism.

Sevugan numbered the attacks of “the erratic John McCain,” saying that GOP’s schizophrenic messaging reflects desperation.

“With 15 days to go, John McCain still hasn’t found a compelling message to persuade voters that he is offering something other than four more years of the same failed policies and destructive politics of the last eight,” Sevugan said. “Instead he’s offered up the kitchen sink, with at least 10 different attacks and messages today alone – and not one of them had a thing to do with turning the economy around.”

Other Democrats around the country seized on the increasingly infamous robo calls coming from the McCain campaign and the RNC that portray a close relationship between Obama and 1960s domestic terrorist William Ayers.

Dan Parker, chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party, and Jerry Meek, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, harshly criticized McCain for employing what he once derided as “hate calls.”

Obama has been on offense in both states despite their reliable GOP support in recent elections.

Meek said McCain is running one of the nastiest campaigns in North Carolina history, and he thinks the Arizona Republican is in danger of not just losing the election “but he will ultimately end up being a disgrace.”

“I have never seen anything as negative and as nasty as what I’m seeing right now from John McCain and the RNC," Meek said.