CLEVELAND, OH — Sen. McCain reiterated today to reporters that he intends to keep it clean and not cast his opponent as an elitist despite the push by some in the GOP strategists to do just that.

“There are differences that we have on our outlook on major challenges we face and obviously I think its legitimate to point those out. But you can do that, and I believe I am doing that in a respectful fashion,” McCain said aboard his bus Friday. “And it’s not respectful for me to say that he is an elitist or uh, I am not saying that. I am saying that we have a different approach to many issues. That should be I think a reason for people to make a judgment.”

Former Bush adviser and Fox New Political Contributor Karl Rove reportedly said of Obama this week, “he’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.

Full exchange on the topic from the wide-ranging conversation aboard his Straight Talk bus today.

Q: What do you think about Karl Rove’s contention that Obama is an arrogant elitist type?

McCain: “Look I respect and admire Senator Obama, and if I have ever treated him in a disrespectful way I don’t know of it but more importantly as the campaigning goes forward I will treat him with respect that the nominee of the party has earned. And Americans want a respectful debate. The don’t want us to finger point and question each other’s character and integrity. So all I can say is that I question—-let me put it this way. There are differences that we have on our outlook on major challenges we face and obviously I think its legitimate to point those out. But you can do that, and I believe I am doing that in a respectful fashion. And its not respectful for me to say that he is an elitist or uh, I am not saying that. I am saying that we have a different approach to many issues. That should be I think a reason for people to make a judgment.”

Q: You have pointed out “bitter” and “cling.’ Some people view that as, when the campaign brings up bitter and cling, that is a way of saying he is elitist or out of touch with mainstream Americans?

McCain: “I don’t think that it is I am portraying him as elitist as much as I am saying that is not my view of the small towns in Pennsylvania that he was talking about. I think that they respect their constitutional rights and cherish them. And I think they have their religious beliefs not to have anything to do with anything about the economy. So we just have a very different opinion. That does mean to me that he is an elitist. It just means that he has a very different view of what his fundamentals of the heartland of America.”

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PHILADELPHIA, PA– Sen. McCain showed little compassion for his Democratic opponent in the City of Brotherly Love today, instead taking aim at Sen. Obama on a smorgasbord of issues from the economy to Iran.

After walking out to the “Rocky” movie theme music, he immediately jabbed Obama for the IL Senator’s April comments that small-town Keystone state voters “cling” to their second amendment gun rights and religion because they are “bitter.”

“We’re going to go to the small towns in Pennsylvania and I’m gonna to tell them I don’t agree with Senator Obama that they cling to their religion and the Constitution because they’re bitter,” McCain told more than 600 voters at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center Wednesday afternoon. “I am going tell them they have faith and they have trust and support the Constitution of the United States because they have optimism and hope and are the strength of America. That’s what America is all about is the people who love our country, who cherish their religion and support the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.”

After getting hit repeatedly by the Obama campaign on Wednesday for suggesting on the Today Show this morning that “it’s not too important” when troops leave Iraq as long as they are safe and can exit when they want, McCain slammed his opponent for taking quotes out of context and repeated his call for joint town hall meetings.

“I asked him to join me tomorrow night in Federal Hall in New York City and let’s hear from the American people, let’s elect a few hundreds Americans who are unaffiliated, lets stand before them,” McCain said. “Instead of the sound bite, instead of taking someones comments out of context and flashing it around on the cable shows. Why don’t we hear complete answers and complete thoughts and that way, and that way the American people will really have an ability to judge.”

Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Thune (R-SD) also defended McCain’s comments during a conference call today.

“Frankly to suggest for a moment that after all that Senator McCain and his family have been through, that he doesn’t understand the sacrifice our troops are making is just absurd,” Thune said.

Lieberman added that McCain “has always been clear that he wants our troops to succeed in their mission (and) come home safely as quickly as possible.”

The presumptive GOP nominee also addressed his hatred of war and concern for his troops today, echoing language featured in his new ad, “Safe,” which the Republican has up in swing states including Pennsylvania. (below)

Other McCain big hits today:

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(((UPDATE 5pm Sunday: The campaign will open up fundraisers to the press starting Monday.)))

The McCain campaign has decided to open up fundraisers to a print pool reporter in the near future, an adviser confirms to FOX.

The presumptive GOP nominee told reporters as recently as May 28 that he was keeping fundraising events closed because his donors requested privacy, but still pledged run “the most accessible campaign in history to the media.”

However, the campaign has come under pressure from it’s traveling press corps and media organizations of late to open up the events since Sen. Obama allows a print reporter into his events to document his remarks. The criticism also reached a new pitch after the joint President Bush-McCain fundraiser last month was closed to the press.

Closed fundraisers took center stage during the primary campaign after controversial comments Obama made at a closed San Francisco fundraiser leaked out. The IL Democrat told donors at the event that some Pennsylvania voters “cling” to guns and religion because they are “bitter.” McCain alluded to those comments during his May 28 press conference, telling reporters, “I say the same thing in fundraisers and closed events as I do in open events.”

The McCain campaign, like Obama, will strictly open the events to a rotating pool print reporter–no photo or video access– who will share editorial information with the rest of the press corps.

Given how important media access is to McCain–exemplified by his regular media availabilities aboard his campaign bus and almost daily on the campaign trail–campaign aides say the decision is consistent with GOPer’s pledge to run one of the most open and transparent campaigns in history. The move will also eliminate an issue that Democrats could use against McCain during the campaign.

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Inez, KY - The loudest applause line of the day at Sen. John McCain’s town hall in rural Kentucky Wednesday did not come in response to remarks by the GOPer but rather a local official.

Asked to comment on Sen. Obama’s “bitter” remarks, McCain first offered the state senator who served up the guaranteed grand slam question take the first crack at it.

“Do you think those comments reflect the views of your constituents?” McCain asked Kentucky District 30 State Sen. Brandon Smith.

“I think it reflects the views of someone who doesn’t understand this neck of the woods,” Smith responded, generating a thunderous standing ovation from the nearly 500 attendees in the Inez Courthouse.

McCain then slammed Obama for the comments, referring to them “elitist remarks to say the least,” and essentially calling the Democrat out of touch with “Americans who love this country” and have a “fundamental faith and believe in God and respect for the constitution.”

He’s no superdelegate, but Bruce Springsteen’s endorsement was welcomed nonetheless by the Obama campaign today.

In a letter posted on the singer’s website, Springsteen wrote Obama “is head and shoulders above the rest” and that he “speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years.”

He even weighed in on Barack Obama’s now infamous “bitter” comments. “At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man’s life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.”

Barack Obama responded on his own website, writing, The America that Bruce Springsteen has spoken about through song is one of big dreams, unyielding hope, and a resilient, hardworking people who struggle and sacrifice for a country as good as its promise.  It’s a story I know and a vision I share for our future, and that’s why I’m so honored to have his support in this journey.”

Here’s what “The Boss” wrote on his website:

Dear Friends and Fans:

LIke most of you, I’ve been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.

He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that’s interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where “…nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.”

At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man’s life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.

After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.

Over here on E Street, we’re proud to support Obama for President.

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Barack Obama didn’t have to wait long at his first Town Hall in Pennsylvania since his “bitter” remarks came to light to hear about the issue from the locals. Obama was confronted with the controversy at this veterans’ forum in Washington, PA by the very first man he called on — who said Hillary Clinton’s charge that Obama is “elitist” sounded a bit like racism.

“As a white person, this term, the way it is being used against you, it isn’t far from uppity, ok?” the man told Obama angrily. “And I think the Clintons are getting away with something that they must be called on. They will continue to do it until somebody states, ‘Mrs Clinton, you’re really close to prejudice here. This is wrong.’”

Obama declined to attack Clinton overtly, denying that there were any racial overtones to the attack — but writing the whole affair off as part of “political silly-season.”

“This is what we do politically. When we start getting behind in races, then we start going on the attack,” he said. “These kinds of, you know, political attacks, they don’t solve the VA problems. They don’t put food on the table. They don’t bring jobs back to these communities.”

As for that elitism, Obama said just look at his upbringing. “I am amused about this notion of elitist, given that when you’re raised by a single mom, when you’re on food stamps for awhile when you were growing up. You went to school on scholarship,” he said. “So when somebody makes that argument, particularly given that I spent my entire life working with workers, low income communities to try to make people’s lives a little bit better, then that’s when you know we’re in political silly season.”

“Hopefully it’ll come to an end fairly soon and we can start focusing on the issues that the people of Pennsylvania and the American people care about.”

It started as a response to attacks from his rivals that he was “out of touch” for saying working class Pennsylvanians cling to guns and religion because they’re embittered by decades of economic hardship. But now, Barack Obama has begun to incorporate part of that response — that average Americans are indeed angry, frustrated, and yes, bitter — into his standard remarks, saying those that disagree are themselves out of touch.

During a typical stump speech in Philadelphia last night, Obama said “people really are angry, they really are fed up. Some of them are really bitter, because Washington has forgotten them. And that it’s not me who’s out of touch, it’s folks who think that somehow folks are happy when they’re out of a job and they’ve lost their pension, and they don’t have health care, and their schools are under funded. I know exactly what folks are going through.”

He then turned the controversy back to his signature — a more hopeful brand of politics. “Sometimes, hope and anger go hand in hand. You’ve got to get angry about your circumstances to want to bring about change, but you’ve got to have hope to believe that change can happen,” he said.

And today at a speech to union members in Washington, Obama strayed from his prepared remarks to address the anger and bitterness he’s seen in American voters. “There’s been a lot of fuss over the last couple of days because I said that people were bitter. People seemed to misunderstand what that means” he said. “Yes people are angry. If you’ve been filling up your gas tank you’re angry. If you’ve watched your entire community decimated because a steel plant has closed, that’ll make you mad. You’ve got to feel some frustration. You’ve got to feel some anger, when you get a sense that the American way of life for so many people feels like it’s slipping away.”

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Philadelphia, PA — The Clinton campaign is up with its first ad in Pennsylvania highlighting Barack Obama’s “bitter” comments as they seek to maximize the impact of his gaffe.

The 30 second spot, titled “Pennsylvania,” features five residents from the Keystone State criticizing Obama’s remarks, including one woman who said she was “insulted” by his comments, and a man who says the “good people of Pennsylvania deserve a lot better than what Barack Obama said.” (full script after jump)

While the campaign will not specify details about the size of the ad purchase, one Clinton adviser called it “substantial.”

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Barack Obama says Hillary Clinton should stay in the race for the Democratic nomination, since the continued excitement over the primary has energized the party.

“Maybe I’m a contrarian here, but I actually do believe this has been good for the party. Because, each state where we’ve participated you’ve record turnout, record registrations, people being engaged and excited about politics like they haven’t been before,” he told a sold-out crowd of journalists and newspapermen at the annual Associated Press luncheon in Washington.

Obama called Clinton a “formidable opponent,” but even in his praise he reminded reporters of his dominant lead over the Senator from New York. “There aren’t many figures in American politics who could have sustained 11 straight losses and hang into a race and raise $35 million,” he said.

While he said he’s tried to take the high road in the primary to keep from hurting the party in November, Obama claimed “it’s a little easier for me to say that since I lead in delegates and states and popular vote. Senator Clinton may not feel that she can afford to be as constrained.”

And he even accused her — quite nicely, of course — of using GOP-style attacks, saying “”I’m sure that Senator Clinton feels like she’s doing me a great favor because she’s been deploying most of the arguments that the Republican party will be using against me in November, and so it’s toughening me up.”

Still, Obama acknowledged that the intraparty fighting could be good for his prospective opponent in the Fall. “Obviously the fact that our contest is still going on means that John McCain comes in here and he’s feeling pretty good,” he said. “I suspect he’s getting more sleep than either myself or Senator Clinton are getting.”

And while he’s convinced that Democrats will unify behind a candidate after the convention, that doesn’t mean his family doesn’t want the race to end well before that. “My wife reminded me that I had told her some time last year that, no matter what happens, by February 5th this thing will be over, one way or the other,” he said. “She keeps on looking at her watch.”

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Pittsburgh, PA– Continuing her assault on her Democratic rival, Sen. Clinton said Monday that she doesn’t think Obama “really gets it that people are looking for a president who stands up for you and not looks down on you.”

While Obama’s criticism of Clinton to the American Association of Manufacturers conference earlier in the morning were particularly well received, Clinton received some cat calls and booing as she launched into what is becoming her daily rebuke of Obama’s “bitter” comments from last week.

“I understand my opponent came this morning and spent a lot of his time attacking me. Well, I know that many of you, like me, were disappointed by recent remarks that he made,” she said, receiving some shouts of “no” from the first few rows (commotion can be heard in video above). “I am well aware that at a fundraiser in San Francisco, he said some things that many people in Pennsylvania and beyond Pennsylvania have found offensive. He was explaining to a small group of his donors what people who live in small towns right here in Pennsylvania are like and why some of you aren’t voting for him. But instead of looking at himself, he blamed them…I don’t think he really gets it that people are looking for a president who stands up for you and not looks down on you.”

She also slammed Obama for not yet taking up her call for President Bush to boycott the Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing as she discussed the importance of standing up to China.

“I’m still waiting for my Democratic opponent to give us a clear answer on the Olympics. He says he is of two minds,” Clinton said. “Well as a President you’ve got to be able to make up your mind and you’ve got to be able to stick with your decisions and if you can’t stand up to China over an opening ceremony, how are you going to stand up to China when it comes to trade.”

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