McCain’s housing gaffe gives Obama hope

As Democrats wait to see who Barack Obama has chosen as his running-mate - he confirmed yesterday that he had made his decision, and is expected to make an announcement today or tomorrow - the Illinois senator's team has been handed just the ammunition it needed in its bid to claw back John McCain's increasing lead in the opinion polls, reported here yesterday.

During an interview with reporters from the Politico website, caught on video by an independent (though Obama-supporting) film-maker, McCain was asked how many houses he owned: "I think - I'll have my staff get to you," he stuttered. "It's condominiums where - I'll have them get to you."

Seizing on McCain's remarks, the Obama camp released an advert making the most of the gaffe. Against an image of the White House, the voiceover intoned: "Mr McCain has lost track of how many houses he owns... Here's one house America can't afford to let John McCain into."

And in a speech to supporters, Obama said: "If you don't know how many houses you have, then it's not surprising that you might think the economy is fundamentally strong."

Obama needs to make capital out of this. As Alexander Cockburn writes today in his weekly column from the US for The First Post, "It's obvious Obama has lost the initiative. Ominously, Democrats are beginning to recall with a shiver John Kerry's disastrous summer in 2004, when his candidacy began to sag in the face of a ruthless battering of his war record...

"Obama now lags behind McCain as the man the public trusts on economic policy, a topic on which McCain publicly confessed ignorance earlier this year."

The McCain campaign has responded to the criticisms of his housing gaffe by releasing its own attack ad, accusing the Democrat of "getting help" from a convicted felon to buy his million-dollar mansion in Chicago - a reference to Obama's links with Tony Rezko, a controversy the Obama camp had hoped to have put to bed some time ago.

Meanwhile, the guessing-game over Obama's choice of vice-presidential candidate continues down to the wire. "I won't comment on anything else until I introduce our running mate to the world," he told USA Today on Thursday, after confirming to the newspaper that he had made his decision.

"That's all you're going to get out of me."

Postscript: the answer to the question 'How many houses does John McCain own?' is apparently seven - made up of houses, ranches, condominiums and lofts worth an estimated $14m in total.

LAST UPDATED 9:11 AM, AUGUST 22, 2008