CHICAGO (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama went after White House rival John McCain's core belief in honor and integrity Monday with a new ad accusing the Republican of stooping to deception, sleaze and lies.
The 30-second television spot quoted McCain as saying during his failed bid for the Republican nomination in 2000: "I will not take the low road to the highest office in this land."
It then cited an array of media commentaries damning McCain's own ad onslaught on Obama as being "truly vile," larded with "dishonest smears" and amounting to the "most disgraceful, dishonorable campaign" yet.
"After voting with (President George W.) Bush 90 percent of the time, proposing the same disastrous economic policies, it seems deception is all he has left," the Illinois senator's ad concluded.
It was a stinging attack on the Vietnam War hero who prizes his own honor and, in 2000, lost the Republican nomination to Bush after a hate-filled campaign leading up the year's South Carolina primary.
Last week, in one intensely controversial ad, the McCain campaign accused Obama of wanting to teach sex education to kindergarten-aged children.
In reality, the bill he voted for as an Illinois lawmaker mandated warnings for young children about sexual predators.
The Democratic National Committee meanwhile launched a new "online counter" and web page to chronicle the "lies and distortions" of McCain and his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
DNC spokesman Damien LaVera cited at least 51 instances of non-partisan organizations crying foul over attacks on Obama from McCain and Palin.
"John McCain's decision to run one of the most dishonest and dishonorable presidential campaigns in history is one more reason to reject his promise of more of the same failed policies and broken politics," he said.
Palin is now accused of saying she visited Alaskan troops inside an Iraqi war zone when it emerged her trip was to an Iraq-Kuwait border post.
She is also taking heat for repeatedly saying she blocked a notorious multi-million dollar project to build a bridge to a sparsely-inhabited island in her state, when she initially backed it and did not return all the federal dollars doled out for it.
And the McCain camp is further being accused in news reports of embellishing attendance figures at its campaign rallies.
The Arizona senator himself denied on Friday that his attacks were rooted in untruth.
"Actually, they are not lies," McCain said on the ABC show "The View." "This is a tough campaign."
Obama, who was heading to Colorado Monday, has launched a fight-back against Republican "lies and phony outrage," but polls suggest the race is tighter than ever in the countdown to November 4.
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