Rival camps spar over choice of Washington insider as running mate

THE camps of Barack Obama and John McCain sparred yesterday over the Democrats’ choice of a longtime Washington insider as his running mate.

A new McCain ad, the second since Obama’s choice on Saturday of fellow Senator Joe Biden, questions the motives of Obama in passing over his former chief rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and settling on someone who fared far worse in the primaries.

Obama chief strategist David Axelrod insisted Biden was “a better fit”.

Fresh from announcing his running mate, Obama was resuming pre-convention campaigning with a scheduled stop in Wisconsin in the run-up to accepting the Democratic nomination for president.

Since Biden’s selection, the McCain camp has come out with two campaign ads addressing the Democratic candidate’s choice of a running mate. The latest ad, released early yesterday, features clips of Clinton during the primary battle saying critical things about Obama, including, “Senator Obama’s campaign has become increasingly negative.”

An announcer asks, “Who won millions of votes but isn’t on the ticket? Why? For speaking the truth.”

McCain told CBS News that Biden was a “wise selection” who will be formidable. However, the Arizona senator was critical of the Obama-Biden ticket on foreign policy, citing disagreements with Biden’s decision to vote against the first Gulf War as well as his position that Iraq should be divided “into three different countries”.

Meanwhile, Obama has a narrow lead over McCain ahead of the Democratic National Convention, a new poll showed. The Washington Post-ABC News survey, released yesterday, indicated the four-point lead was almost within the margin of error. Among those most likely to vote, 49% support Obama and 45% back McCain, according to the poll that was completed before the Illinois senator announced Biden as his running mate.

The survey showed Obama continued to lead on the economy, and at a better than two to one margin, voters saw him as the more optimistic candidate.

But McCain leads two to one as the candidate with better knowledge of world affairs and the one who would make a better head of the military.