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Obama Camp Vows 'Ferocity'

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The Associated Press

Published: September 13, 2008

DOVER, N.H. - Belittling John McCain as a relic of the disco age, Democrat Barack Obama pushed his campaign Friday to a new level of counterpunching "on the issues that matter" and directed his running mate to be tougher on their Republican opponents.

The changes come as national polls find McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, pulling ahead of Obama and Joe Biden, prompting some jittery Democrats to implore them to fight back harder, and Obama's camp to pledge "speed and ferocity" in that effort.

"You know, I'm not going to be making up lies about John McCain," Obama told undecided voters in Dover. But he dipped into history, citing the oft-repeated phrase: "If you don't stop lying about me, I'm going to have to start telling the truth about you."

"That's what we're going to do," Obama said.

Dover resident Glenn Grasso asked Obama, "when and how are you going to start fighting back against attack ads and the smear campaigns?"

"Our ads have been pretty tough," Obama replied. "I'm going to respond with the truth."

Obama has called Palin a "phenomenon" and acknowledged she's given the Republican ticket a boost. But his aides say McCain is vulnerable to new criticism because he has stretched the truth in recent comments and ads, and because Palin was shaky on foreign policy in an ABC News interview.

"Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said in a statement Friday. "We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people."

Plouffe said Biden "will be integral to that effort, both in pushing back on the lies that we'll continue to see from our opponents, and in keeping the debate focused on delivering for everyday Americans."
Vice presidential candidates often play the role of attacker. But many Democrats feel their party's last two nominees for that job, John Edwards and Joe Lieberman, were too passive.

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