ASHEVILLE, NC - Barack Obama took a break from his debate preparations in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, to hold a rally on the football field at Asheville High School.

One month before Election Day and one day after Sarah Palin accused the Democrat of “palling” around with terrorists, Obama responded as only a frontrunner can - not by refuting the claims (which his campaign did yesterday) - but by dismissing them as, well, pathetic.

Standing before more than 20,000 on the 25 yard line, Obama answered Palin’s attack by going on the offense. “I want ya’ll to listen to this - [McCain's] campaign has announced that they plan to - and I quote - ‘turn the page’ on the discussion about our economy and spend the final weeks of this campaign launching Swiftboat-style attacks on me,” he began, referring to a report in yesterday’s Washington Post that quoted a senior McCain advisor.

“We are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and John McCain wants us to ‘turn the page’ on talking about the economy?” he continued incredulously.

Without mentioning Palin or Ayers, he simply said, “Senator McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance. They’d rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up. That’s what you do when you’re out of touch, out of ideas, and running out of time.”

The crowd roared, but he wasn’t finished. “I want all of you to be clear, I’m going to keep on talking about the issues that matter. I’m gonna keep on talking about the economy, I’m gonna talk about health care. I’m gonna talk about education. I’m gonna talk about energy. I’m going to keep on standing up for the hardworking families who aren’t getting a fair shake in this economy. We’re not going to let John McCain distract us, we’re not gonna let him hoodwink you, or bamboozle you,” he said, adding, “The American people are too smart for that.”

The Obama campaign would not comment on the Associated Press’ claim that Palin’s comment was “racially tinged,” leaving the candidate’s response stand alone.

ASHEVILLE, NC - Today’s New York Times ran a front page story on Obama’s “crossed paths” with William Ayers, a 1960s radical who used to detonate bombs to protest Vietnam, clearly catching the attention of the GOP ticket.

Although the Times couldn’t come up with much linking Obama and Ayers, it didn’t stop John McCain’s “pit bull” from dropping a bomb of an attack today - exactly one month before the election.

Down in the polls, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin told donors in Colorado that Obama “is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

As Obama was in an airplane heading to Asheville, NC, for debate preparations, his campaign responded forcefully with a statement, calling Palin’s shot “desperate,” “false,” and a distraction from the nation’s economic ills.

Governor Palin’s comments, while offensive, are not surprising, given the McCain campaign’s statement this morning that they would be launching Swiftboat-like attacks in hopes of deflecting attention from the nation’s economic ills. In fact, the very newspaper story Governor Palin cited in hurling her shameless attack made clear that Senator Obama is not close to Bill Ayers, much less ‘pals,’ and that he has strongly condemned the despicable acts Ayers committed 40 years ago, when Obama was eight. What’s clear is that John McCain and Sarah Palin would rather spend their time tearing down Barack Obama than laying out a plan to build up our economy.

The campaign pointed to this morning’s Washington Post, which reported that the GOP was about to adopt a “fiercer” strategy against a surging Barack Obama as evidence of their assertion that the McCain camp was willing to use Swiftboat techniques to change the subject from the economy.

Read the full Obama - Biden campaign response below the jump.

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Senator Barack Obama spoke to about 600 paying guests at a fundraising reception in downtown Jacksonville, where attendees paid between $500 and $2,300 to Barack Obama for America. The Illinois senator spoke for about twenty minutes to his devotees, and noted the clear choice this November on issues surrounding the economy, health care, the war, and overall philosophy.

“Most of all we can choose between hope and fear. It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy. We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me,” Obama said, just one day after he he told reporters that Republican 527 groups will emerge this election and run negative ads during the election.

Obama continued that the Republicans’ message would invoke the Democrat’s race. “He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black? He’s got a feisty wife,” Obama told the crowd, which cheered.

“We know the strategy because they’ve already shown their cards. Ultimately I think the American people recognize that old stuff hasn’t moved us forward. That old stuff just divides us,” he said.

Listen to audio from that fundraiser here:

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