Aug 2, 2008 10:23 am US/Eastern
In Florida, The Candidates Took To The Low Road
Obama in Orlando said the campaign tactics of the McCain team are a sign "they have nothing to offer"
ORLANDO (CBS4) ―
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Saturday in central Florida said he doesn't think the campaign of rival John McCain is racist but that his Republican opponent's campaign is cynical.
Obama's comments were said after the McCain campaign charged that Obama had "played the race card" in accusing McCain and others of planning to scare voters about how he looks.
Obama says the cynicism comes from the McCain campaign's efforts to distract voters from real issues and engaging in negative attacks.
A McCain spokesman suggested their candidate was being labeled as a racist. That's an attempt to shift the campaign's focus, Obama argued Saturday.
"In no way do I think that John McCain's campaign was being racist," Obama said. "I think they're cynical. And I think they want to distract people from talking about the real issues." He added of the Republicans' approach: "They're very good at negative campaigning. They're not so good at governing."
Reporters questioned Obama about the issue of race as he campaigned for a second day in Florida, where offshore oil drilling was emerging as a top issue. The Illinois senator said he was willing to compromise his stand against further drilling along the U.S. coastline if other proposals were part of a plan for energy independence. "What I'm interested in, ultimately, is going to be governing," he said. "What that means is we're going to have to try to get things done."
A McCain campaign spokesman, Tucker Bounds, said in a statement Saturday: "We're glad the Obama campaign retracted Barack Obama's accusation because it was absolutely false, and we're moving on.
The only 'cynical' candidate in this election is Barack Obama for his continued opposition to John McCain's comprehensive energy plan that includes additional oil drilling, gas tax relief and affordable nuclear energy."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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