Smear campaign sullies candidates

Tampa, Florida: The campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain swapped charges of "low-road" politics and "abetting" corruption on Wednesday, a day after the presidential candidates engaged in a tense but civil debate.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden accused Republican McCain of waging a campaign of fear with his advertisements questioning Obama's character and told a rally in Tampa that McCain's running mate was making "the most outrageous inferences".

McCain has been running ads asking "Who is the real Barack Obama?" and his vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, has accused the Illinois senator of being friends with a 1960s radical she has labelled a "domestic terrorist".

The Arizona senator renewed his criticism of Democrat Obama on Wednesday, accusing him of abetting corruption that helped lead to the current global financial crisis.

McCain's campaign tried again to link Obama to Bill Ayers, a former member of the 1960s-era militant Weather Underground, which was involved in bombings when Obama was 8 years old.

Obama has said he knows Ayers, now an Illinois academic, only slightly and has denounced his actions with the Weather Underground.

McCain has repeatedly accused Obama of taking donations from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were taken over by the government recently. Obama counters by noting that one of McCain's aides lobbied for Freddie Mac.

The latest spate of charges came a day after the two presidential nominees met for their second debate before the November 4 election. They largely avoided personal attacks during the debate, but both campaigns were in a belligerent mode on Wednesday.

McCain, appearing with Palin at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, accused Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress of promoting policies that led to the current debt and credit crisis.

"This corruption was encouraged by Democrats in Congress and abetted by Senator Obama," he said. Some in the crowd later took up the chant of "Liar, Liar" as McCain accused Obama of failing to deliver on his promises from earlier campaigns.

Biden wrapped up a day of campaigning in Florida, a big toss-up state, by addressing a rally in Fort Myers where he again denounced McCain's "personal attacks" on Obama as well as what he called President George W. Bush's "shoot-first-ask-questions-later-foreign policy".

Roar of approval

Drawing his biggest roar of approval of the day, Biden told a crowd of a few thousand: "Read my lips: We will end this (Iraq) war."

Biden portrayed McCain as an angry and erratic man who has backed Bush the past eight years and is now seeing his chance for the White House slip away.