Obama aide: McCain campaign 'sleaziest' in modern history

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama's spokesman on Saturday accused Sen. John McCain of "cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history."

Obama, speaking to a crowd Saturday in Manchester, New Hampshire, said, "John McCain wants to have a debate about national security; let's have that debate. I warned that going into Iraq would distract us from Afghanistan. John McCain cheerleaded for it. John McCain was wrong, and I was right."

"The McCain-[Sarah] Palin ticket, they don't want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on issues because they are running on eight more years of what we've just seen. And they know it," the Democratic presidential nominee said. "As a consequence, what they're going to spend the next seven, eight weeks doing is trying to distract you.

"They're going to talk about pigs, and they're going to talk about lipstick; they're going to talk about Paris Hilton, they're going to talk about Britney Spears. They will try to distort my record, and they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats intend to do."

Asked why the campaign's tone was different from its tone during Hurricane Gustav, Obama senior strategist David Axelrod said, "We have enormous concern for people down there ... that's why we canceled 'Saturday Night Live' ... but these people also came out because they're really concerned about the future of the country, and he [Obama] wanted to talk about those issues."

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds criticized Obama for showing "zero restraint" given the storm and said the "attacks mark a new low from Barack Obama."

The Obama campaign's response was even tougher.

Obama aide: McCain campaign 'sleaziest' in modern history....