Paris Hilton spoof be damned; McCain continues to bombard Obama’s celebrity

Paris Hilton spoofed his ad campaign, but the woman notorious for being famous did not deter Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s ongoing attack on the celebrity of his Democratic rival, Barack Obama.

As Obama campaigned on energy issues, the McCain campaign today released its latest advertisement, titled “Family,” that includes the taunt: “Is the biggest celebrity in the world ready to help your family?”

The current ad, immediately attacked by the Obama campaign, does not feature celebrities such as Hilton and Britney Spears, whom McCain used in an earlier ad. Hilton, who unveiled her version of an energy plan, tweaked the elderly McCain on Tuesday with her own video chastising “the white-haired dude.”

But the latest McCain salvo makes the same political point, that Obama, shown before a joyous crowd, is not a leader, but a publicity phenomenon. The ad, according to the McCain campaign, argues that Obama supports higher taxes and increased government spending.

“Is the biggest proponent of George Bush’s tired, failed policies ready to bring about change?” Obama spokesman Bill Burton shot back in a prepared statement. “Another day brings another dishonest attack from John McCain.

“While Sen. McCain knows that Sen. Obama has proposed cutting taxes for 95% of American families, what he’s not telling us is that he wants to give $4 billion in tax breaks to the oil companies, continue giving tax breaks to corporations that ship our job overseas, and provide no direct tax relief for more than 100 million middle-class families. It’s time to retire these old policies and bring new energy to America,” Burton said.

There has always been a fine line in politics between fame and success. Pollsters frequently measure name recognition because it often gives a clue as to how the public eventually votes.

According to the latest poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, nearly half of those surveyed said they are tired of hearing about Obama; about one-quarter said the same about McCain.

According to the study by Pew and the Project for Excellence in Journalism, Obama, 47, and a freshman senator from Illinois, has appeared in more news stories this year than his principal opponent. More people say they have heard more about him than about Arizona Sen. McCain, who will be 72 this month and has been a fixture on the political scene since he was a prisoner in the Vietnam War.

Two-thirds of Republicans and about half of independents say they’ve heard too much about Obama, as did a third of Democrats, according to the survey.

The poll was conducted from Aug. 1-4 and involved telephone interviews with 1,004 adults. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Obama continued his campaigning on energy and economic issues with a stop in Elkhart, Ind. He was accompanied by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), a potential vice presidential candidate.

Bayh, a former two-term governor and son of former Sen. Birch Bayh, will spend the day campaigning with Obama. During the primary season, Bayh supported Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama today attacked McCain for poking fun at the idea of keeping tires properly inflated as an energy conservation measure. The McCain camp has criticized Obama, implying that the suggestion he offered in response to a question amounts to his entire energy policy. Obama said that the conservation measure, recommended by experts, is simply part of an overall approach.

“Sen. McCain and his party mocked the idea, and they even sent out tire gauges,” Obama said. “Well, get this – last night, after all that, Sen. McCain actually said that he agreed that keeping our tires inflated was a good idea.

“We just agreed to a series of debates in the fall, but the most interesting one that’s going on these days is the debate between John McCain and John McCain,” Obama said.

McCain began his day with a visit to a Marshall University football practice in Huntington, W. Va.

McCain arrived with university President Stephen J. Kopp and head coach Mark Snyder. They walked to one end of the field and huddled with defensive coach Rick Minter. They then moved a bit farther down the field and the coaches had the squad set up to show McCain a couple of plays. They had McCain call the plays for the team.

McCain then traveled to Jackson, Ohio, where he called for an “economic surge” to match the military surge in Iraq, a contentious issue in the campaign. McCain supported the increase of U.S. combat troops in Iraq while Obama opposed the addition.

“What we need today is an economic surge,” McCain said. “Our surge has succeeded in Iraq militarily. Now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones.”

McCain used a visit to Merillat Industries, a cabinet company that has seen its business suffer in the economic downturn, to slam Obama’s tax policies.

“He has promised tax increases on income, tax increases on investment, tax increases on small businesses,” McCain said, repeating a frequently used line on the campaign trail. “That’s exactly, exactly the wrong strategy. Raising taxes in a bad economy is about the worst thing you can do.”

Obama has said he would raise taxes only on those earning above $250,000 a year. His campaign says its plan would lower taxes on lower-income and middle-class Americans, and his advisors note the nation added far more jobs during President Clinton’s administration, when tax rates were higher, than under President Bush’s tax cuts.

 michael.muskal@latimes.com

Times staff writer Peter Nicholas contributed to this report from the Obama campaign in Indiana. Times staff writer Bob Drogin contributed to this report from the McCain campaign in Ohio.