NORFOLK (Virginia), Sept 10: The US presidential campaign erupted on Wednesday in a spat over gender politics, with John McCain accusing the Democrat of a sexist attack on his running mate and Barack Obama denouncing Republican “lies and phoney outrage”.

With the race tightening in a struggle for women voters, McCain put out a Web advertisement saying his Democratic rival was talking about Sarah Palin on Tuesday when he likened Republican plans for government reform to putting “lipstick on a pig”.

Palin, a little-known Alaska governor before she became McCain’s running mate, had told the Republican nominating convention this month that she was a “hockey mom” and joked that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull was lipstick.

McCain’s new advertisement juxtaposes the lipstick remarks by Obama and Palin, then cuts to a TV news presenter observing that one lesson of the campaign was the “continued and accepted role of sexism in American life”. “Ready to lead? No,” McCain’s ad says in print across the TV screen. “Ready to smear? Yes.”

Obama tackled the controversy head-on during an appearance in Norfolk.

“What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country,” he said. “They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad because they know that it’s catnip for the news media.”

“I don’t care what they say about me, but I love this country too much to let them to take over another election with lies and phoney outrage and Swift-boat politics. Enough is enough,” Obama added to cheers from supporters. He was referring to attack ads that help sink the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry, a former Swift-boat captain.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass said it was clear from the context of his remarks that the Democratic presidential candidate was not referring to Palin in his comments and was not calling her a pig.

McCain is “running a relentlessly dishonest, disruptive and cynical campaign in hopes of distracting voters” from the issues, she said.—Reuters