Obama: McCain is not racist

The Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama has denied he accused his Republican rival John McCain of racism, saying: "In no way do I think John McCain's campaign was racist." But he decried the Republican campaign as "cynical" and "negative".

On Friday, McCain's team accused Obama of playing the race card after Obama said in a speech that the Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills".

Referring to TV adds by the McCain team which compare Obama to socialite and airhead Paris Hilton, Obama said: "I think they are cynical. Their team is good at creating distractions and engaging in negative attacks."