Battling Through Battleground States

"I can take four more weeks of John McCain's attacks, but the American people can't take four more years of John McCain's Bush policies," he said.

The McCain campaign's attacks on Obama's judgment and readiness came often and from a number of surrogates. Cindy McCain led the way, accusing the Democrat of voting against funding U.S. troops in Iraq, which at one time included the McCains' son.

"The day that Senator Obama decided to cast a vote to not fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body," Cindy McCain told a crowd of several thousand supporters in Bethlehem, Pa. "I would suggest Senator Obama change shoes with me for just one day and see what it means to have a loved one serving in the armed services."

The Obama campaign said McCain has distorted his vote, which was an attempt to force Bush to come up with a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq by setting a cutoff date.

But Cindy McCain's words may not have been the strongest of the day.

"Barack Obama's friend tried to kill my family," said a statement from John M. Murtagh released by McCain's campaign, the latest attempt to link Obama to Vietnam-era radical William Ayers, now a Chicago academic who has served with Obama on various boards and organizations.

Murtagh, a lawyer who has been critical of Obama, said the Weather Underground firebombed his house when he was 9, an act aimed at his father, a judge who was presiding over a trial of Black Panthers.

"The terrorist group founded by Barack Obama's friend William Ayers firebombed my house," Murtagh said. "Barack Obama may have been a child when William Ayers was plotting attacks against U.S. targets, but I was one of those targets."

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate, has repeatedly linked Obama to Ayers in recent days.

On Wednesday, for the first time, McCain did as well during the Fox interview. "It's about Senator Obama being candid and straightforward with the American people about their relationship. He has dismissed it by saying he was just a guy in the neighborhood. You know it's much more than that.''

Obama did not respond to the criticism during his speech, but his running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., said the attacks made McCain look like "an angry man, lurching from one position to another."

"You know, the idea here that somehow these guys are once again injecting fear and loathing into this campaign is . . . I think it's mildly dangerous," he said.

Biden spokesman David Wade said the senator from Delaware is prepared to be Obama's "defender in chief.''

Staff writer Perry Bacon Jr. contributed to this report.