Democrat Obama pushes economic relief in Missouri

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama pushed his plans for middle-class economic relief in a Republican area of Missouri on Wednesday, and said White House rival John McCain was trying to scare voters about an Obama presidency.

"What they're going to do is make you scared -- of me," Obama told voters in Springfield, Missouri, in a conservative region of a key battleground state in November's presidential election.

Obama, launching a four-day tour of swing states to promote his economic policies, mocked the arguments he said McCain, a Republican Arizona senator, and his supporters will make.

"'He's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. He doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills,'" Obama said.

"That's their argument. 'We don't have much to offer, but he's risky,'" he said. "We are in a time right now where it is too risky not to change. It is risky to keep doing what we are doing."

Obama's comments came McCain launched a new ad likening the Illinois senator to celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, implying he was a lightweight who could not deliver on his talk.

"I don't pay attention to John McCain's ads, although I do notice he doesn't seem to have anything very positive to say about himself," Obama told reporters after visiting a diner in Lebanon, Missouri.

"He seems to only be talking about me," Obama said. "You need to ask John McCain what he's for, not just what he's against."