McCain Slams New York Times

JOHN McCain's presidential campaign blasted the New York Times today for an "unprecedented attack" on his wife, as both Republican and Democratic teams exchanged barbs over voter fraud allegations ahead of the November 4 election.

The paper's profile of Cindy McCain delves into the background of the millionaire beer heiress, married to the Republican Arizona senator for more than 30 years.

McCain's campaign fired back immediately, describing the profile as "gutter journalism at its worst'' and a "barrage of petty and personal attacks''.

The article noted the candidate's spouse had a role in the Keating Five savings-and-loan scandal, she "endured several miscarriages alone'' while her husband worked in Washington, and she was "caught stealing drugs from her nonprofit organisation to feed her addiction to painkillers''.

The article is a "black mark on the record of a paper that was once widely respected, but is now little more than a propaganda organ for the Democratic party,'' McCain's campaign said.

"The New York Times has stooped lower than this campaign ever imagined possible in an attempt to discredit a woman whose only apparent sin is being married to the man that would oppose that paper's preferred candidate, (Democrat) Barack Obama.''

Cindy McCain, 54, is the chairwoman of Hensley & Company, Arizona's foremost beer distribution company worth an estimated tens of millions of dollars.

In a confession to Newsweek magazine she admitted drug use in the wake of the Keating scandal that rocked Washington in the late 1980s, in which she was the sole Senate spouse to be implicated.

"The pills made me feel euphoric and free,'' she wrote in an essay.

Cindy McCain has been drafted into her husband's campaign in recent weeks and was due to tour Pennsylvania by bus this weekend in a bid to stem McCain's slide in the polls against his Democratic rival.

Meanwhile Obama's campaign accused Republicans of using a false crusade against voter fraud to suppress legitimate votes.

The Obama campaign's top lawyer, Bob Bauer, accused Republicans yesterday of recklessly "plotting'' to suppress legitimate votes and to "sow confusion and harass voters and complicate the process for millions of Americans''.