Obama Goes to Nev. After Hawaii Detour

"No matter how he spins it, if Barack Obama wanted to run against George W. Bush, he should've run against him four years ago, because his opponent is John McCain -- a war hero and bipartisan reformer," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

He added: "Americans would have been better off if Barack Obama hadn't joined with the president to vote for virtually every Bush spending bill, voting for the Bush-Cheney energy bill and doubling down on the Bush administration legacy of out-of-control spending. Obama is just more of the same."

Obama said, in effect, that such an argument was not believable: "Let's be clear: John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy."

Meanwhile, Obama is ready to associate himself with another former president. Bill Clinton, and the Obama campaign announced the two would campaign together Wednesday at a late-night rally in Orlando. Clinton is the last Democrat to have carried the Sunshine State in a presidential election, and Florida is vital to McCain's electoral strategy.

Obama's campaign events were his first since attending to his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who is in failing health. The Democrat made an emotional 22-hour visit to his home town of Honolulu to see the woman who helped raise him and whom he has called the "rock" of his family.

He spoke about her Saturday for the first time, albeit guardedly.

"I just want to personally say how grateful I am," Obama said before he started his Reno speech. "There are so many people who sent out their thoughts and prayers and sent my grandmother flowers and get-well cards. I just want you to know it meant the world to her, it means the world to me.

"Thank you, everybody, for being so gracious. It was really nice."