By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a difficult week that sparkedDemocratic worries, Barack Obama fired back at Republicanpresidential rival John McCain on Friday with new ads andpromises of a retooled, sharper message.
Obama has struggled to find his voice in a campaign debatedominated by McCain and his new running mate, Alaska Gov. SarahPalin, since Republicans ended their convention last week witha volley of harsh personal attacks on him and a wave of newmomentum.
The emergence of Palin, an anti-abortion and pro-gunconservative who electrified the party's base supporters,seemed to knock Obama off stride and propelled the Republicansinto a slight lead in the November 4 election race in a flurryof new opinion polls.
But Obama and his supporters promised to turn the page anddeclared the worst was over.
"Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign,"campaign manager David Plouffe said in a memo. "We will respondwith speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we willtake the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues thatmatter to the American people."
The Obama camp released two ads hitting McCain as anout-of-touch supporter of President George W. Bush who would beunable to deliver economic improvements or on his promise tochange the culture in Washington.
"Things have changed in the last 26 years. But McCainhasn't," one of Obama's new ads says. "He admits he stilldoesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail. Stilldoesn't understand the economy."
In another ad, Obama talks directly into the camera toexplain his promise of change. "Because this year, change hasto be more than a slogan," he said.
MCCAIN WITH HIS OWN ATTACK
The McCain campaign issued its own attack on Obama. "He wasthe world's biggest celebrity, but his star's fading. So theylashed out at Sarah Palin," the narrator says in a new ad. "Howdisrespectful."
The political firestorm caused by McCain's pick of thevirtually unknown Palin as his No. 2 and the biting attacks onObama by Republicans had drowned the Illinois senator'seconomic message in the last week. Democratic strategists haveworried he seemed uncertain how to respond.
McCain, a four-term Arizona senator, and Palin latched onto Obama's message of change and presented themselves as thetrue reformers in the race -- a move that seemed to catchObama's team off guard.
Some Democratic activists also questioned why Obama wasleft to handle the responses to McCain and Palin's attacks andurged a more active role for his No. 2, Delaware Sen. JoeBiden, and surrogates in attacking the Republicans.
The growing sense of Democratic nervousness was palpableamong grassroots activists and elected officials, forcing theObama campaign's concerted effort to ease the concerns.
Plouffe said polls showed Obama was in good shape in thekey states crucial to winning the White House, and noted thehigh level of enthusiasm about the campaign among Democrats.
"The race has settled into a tight race nationally withObama well-positioned in the key battleground states, ahistoric enthusiasm gap and a debate being waged on Obama'shome turf -- change," Plouffe said in his memo.
"In recent weeks John McCain has shown that he is willingto go into the gutter to win this election. His campaign hasbecome nothing but a series of smears, lies, and cynicalattempts to distract from the issues," he said. "As BarackObama said earlier this week 'enough is enough.'"
The McCain camp said the new advertisements from Obama weredesigned to hide his lack of achievement.
"What is becoming clear to the American people is the factthat Barack Obama has no record of bipartisan legislativeaccomplishment, no history of bucking his party and no chanceof bringing change," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.
(Editing by Jackie Frank)
