Obama Ad Says McCain Voted For 90 Percent Of Bush Policies

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) launched an aggressive TV ad late Tuesday refuting his rival's claim of being a "maverick" Republican who has worked for reforms against traditional Washington politics.

Obama's 30-second spot was released in response to an ad from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) the same day that he sought to shift the tone of the campaign away from acrimonious exchanges that have dominated it in the last several weeks.

Obama's ad refutes McCain's claim, "He's the original maverick," asking voters in big bold letters, "Really?" It also features a 2003 clip of McCain saying, "The president and I agree on most issues. There was a recent study that showed that I voted with the president over 90 percent of the time."

An announcer then says, "John McCain supports Bush's tax cuts for millionaires, but nothing for a hundred million households. He's for billions in new oil company giveaways, while gas prices soar. And for tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas."

The ad spot questioned, "The original maverick? Or just more of the same?"

McCain's ad had made no mention of Obama and reprised the four-term senator's primary campaign approach of touting his reputation as "the original maverick." It swiped at President Bush, saying "Washington's broken... We're worse off than we were four years ago."

"Senator McCain wants Americans to forget that during the Republican primary, he said that Americans were better off than we were eight years ago, and that he thinks we've made 'great progress economically," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton, said in an emailed statement.

The Republican's sudden focus on his maverick legislative record comes after several weeks of contentious back-and-forth with Obama, who has come under fire for making a 10-day overseas trip more appropriate for a president and canceling a visit to wounded American troops in German. But McCain, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and four-term senator, came out of the losing end of the exchange, with conservatives expressing concern about his growing aggressiveness and pundits taking note of his poor record using negative campaign tactics.