Barbs fly over mccain adviser's acerbic remarks

McCain has lagged far behind Democrat Barack Obama's ability to tap donors and set fund-raising records through innovative use of the Internet.

And the Illinois senator and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who fought him bitterly for the Democratic presidential nomination until she bowed out last month, were raising still more cash last Thursday while hammering McCain on women's issues and the economy - the No-1 issue among voters.

Obama appeared to take particular glee in highlighting remarks former Senator Phil Gramm - McCain's top adviser on the economy - made in an interview with The Washington Times.

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," Gramm was quoted as saying. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet. We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline."

At a Michigan campaign stop, McCain told reporters: "I strongly disagree. Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me."

And meeting with voters in a factory, McCain said anyone who had just lost a job "isn't suffering from a mental recession. America is in great difficulty. And we are experiencing enormous economic challenges as well as others."

But Obama was not letting McCain off that easily and sought to paint him as out of touch.

"America already has one Dr Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy," he said, drawing cheers and laughter with the reference to television psychologist "Dr Phil" McGraw. Phil Gramm also has a doctorate.

The audience booed and hissed when Obama read out Gramm's quotes, contrasting them with record petrol prices, steadily climbing grocery bills, home foreclosures and job layoffs.

"Let's be clear. This economic downturn is not in your head," Obama said at a Virginia town-hall event focused on helping women advance economically.

"It isn't whining to ask government to step in and give families some relief," he said, drawing a standing ovation from the nearly 3,000 people in a high-school gymnasium.

"And I think it's time we had a president who doesn't deny our problems or blame the American people for them but takes responsibility and provides the leadership to solve them."