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Palin says Obama running against Bush, not McCain
By BETH FOUHY
Associated Press
October 15, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) -- Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Tuesday said Barack Obama is running as though his opponent is President Bush instead of John McCain. She called it a strategy that's "wearing pretty thin."

Addressing several hundred supporters at a fundraiser, the Alaska governor said voters know McCain as a political maverick and war hero and that Obama is trying too hard to link the Arizona senator to the unpopular GOP president.

"Our opponents spend so much time pretending they are running against the current president. I think it's wearing pretty thin," Palin said, without mentioning Bush's name. "The American people are really waking up and saying no, the status quo is not one of the boxes to check."

She added, "That's what our opponents are afraid of. That more and more Americans are remembering who John McCain is."

Palin and McCain appeared with their spouses at the event for the Republican Victory Fund, where guests paid as much as $28,500 to support the presidential ticket and other GOP candidates. The fundraiser was expected to net at least $8 million for the party.

McCain also has taken steps to distance himself from Bush in recent days. The Arizona senator debuted a new stump speech this week in which he pledged to fix the economy, saying "we cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight, waiting for our luck to change."

Palin's reference to Bush wasn't McCain's only reminder of the current president's legacy. As the candidate left his midtown Manhattan hotel to travel to the fundraiser, the red carpet premiere of "W," Oliver Stone's new film critical of Bush and his policies, was under way across the street.

National and battleground state polls show Obama opening a clear lead over McCain, particularly since the financial meltdown took hold in mid-September.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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