Obama, McCain Downplay Success to Make Appeal Amid Economic Woes

Aug. 22, 2008— -- The latest front in the war for the White House is a battle between two elite millionaires trying to tag each other as out of touch with the economic struggles of working class Americans.

For months, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been depicting his rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as a "fussy" effete celebrity who drinks fancy teas.

But Obama got a clean shot back when Politico published an interview in which Sen. John McCain was asked how many homes he and his wife, Cindy, own.

After mumbling for a moment, the Arizona senator said he would have his staff find out.

The answer, after a couple of tries at accounting for them all, turned out to be 10 houses on eight properties ranging from two beachfront condos in Coronado, Calif., to another condo in Virginia.

Obama pounced on the image of a Republican presidential candidate so rich that he can't keep track of all his homes.

And the Obama campaign is hoping that the McCain gaffe, coupled with Obama's announcement of his running mate within the next 24 hours, will be a one-two punch that will give Obama the upper hand in the 10 weeks to go before the election.

McCain's aides tried to fight back against the suggestion that their candidate was too wealthy to relate to most Americans by pointing to Obama's $1.6 million home and the controversy over how Obama was able to afford it.

In a TV ad, the McCain campaign criticized Obama for getting help in buying the sprawling house from shady political fundraiser Tony Rezko. Rezko was recently indicted for political corruption.

"I think this was a bit of a deeper hit in favor of Obama because they were able to open up a new front and really try to make headway on this idea that [McCain's] not an average working class American," George Stephanopoulos, ABC's chief Washington correspondent, told "Good Morning America" Friday.

McCain's Rezko shot stung, but Stephanopoulos said, "The Obama team is willing to take that hit in order to drive this other message home."

Stephanopoulos said Obama's camp is hoping that McCain's housing blunder will be "a metaphoric moment" similar to George H.W. Bush's amazement over supermarket scanners during his losing 1992 race against Bill Clinton, and John Edwards' $400 haircuts during this year's Democratic primaries.