CHICAGO (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama is shedding the rock-star glitz to reacquaint voters with his humble roots heading into a defining week for his bid to be America's first black president.
The Obama campaign is using this week's Democratic nominating convention in Denver to offer a portrayal of the Illinois senator at stark odds with the wealth and privilege it says is enjoyed by Republican John McCain.
Addressing voters at a barbecue in Wisconsin Sunday, the Illinois senator said the Republicans were following a well-trodden campaign path by trying "to scare the heck out of you about the Democratic nominee."
His opponents, the African-American Obama said, wanted to paint him as an alien figure out of step with heartland America by suggesting he "looks different," or that he is a secret Muslim, or that he is an elitist liberal.
The elitist tag worked to devastating effect against the Democrats' 2004 nominee, Senator John Kerry, and also undermined the 2000 White House campaign of vice president Al Gore.
But Obama said that from Monday, starting with a speech by his wife Michelle at the Denver convention, voters would hear a different story about who he is.
"I think what you'll conclude is, he's sort of like us: comes from a middle-class background, went to school on scholarships, had to pay off student loans, he and his wife had to worry about childcare and figure out how to start a college fund for their kids," he said.
"But ultimately this election is not about me, it's about you and whether we are going to allow ourselves to watch this country get run into the ground," Obama said.
"Whether we are going to do the same old things over and over and over again and somehow expect a different result, or whether we are finally going to decide, not this time. This time, we're going to try something different."
Michelle Obama arrived in Denver Sunday with the couple's two young daughters. But her husband will not be present when she gives the biggest speech of her life on Monday evening.
He is on a tour of battleground states before heading to Denver on Wednesday to be crowned the Democratic nominee for November's presidential election against McCain.
While the party plans a humbler portrayal during a week-long biographical showcase of its new champion, the celebrity trappings that have drawn Republican comparisons to Paris Hilton will not entirely disappear.
Having Saturday unveiled his vice presidential nominee, Senator Joseph Biden, Obama is now crafting the acceptance address he will deliver Thursday to upwards of 75,000 supporters in a Denver sports stadium.
"I am still tooling around with my speech a little bit," Obama told reporters before heading to a Chicago hotel to work with his speechwriters and top advisers.
"It may not be as good as the other headliners the first three nights, but hopefully it will make clear the choice that the American people are going to face in November."
With polls suggesting the White House race is on a knife-edge, and the economy is the overriding concern of most voters, Obama has been hammering McCain after the Republican confessed to not knowing how many houses he owns.
"I have respect for John McCain's service. I don't have respect for John McCain's policies because they represent four more years of the same," the Democrat said in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
"The same attitude, and the same out-of-touch policies."
But McCain battled back over the property embarrassment, which is particularly toxic at a time when many Americans are losing their homes or struggling to make mortgage repayments.
"Well, first of all, let me say that I am grateful for the fact that I have a wonderful life. I spent some years without a kitchen table, without a chair," he told CBS News, referencing his five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
"So, all I can say is, I am blessed to have the opportunity to continue to be part of a country where you can succeed and do well," the Arizona senator said.
McCain's campaign has vied to limit the damage by pointing to Obama's ties to convicted fraudster Tony Rezko, a Chicago businessman and fundraiser who helped the Democrat with the purchase of his spacious family home.
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