DNC Hits McCain For $5 Million Remark, Day After Obama

Democratic operatives were quick to jump on the one major McCain slip up from Saturday's Saddleback forum: the off-the-cuff remark that $5 million was the line of demarcation for distinguishing the rich.

On Monday, Barack Obama had a sharp attack line at his disposal, painting his Republican opponent as out of touch on modern economics.

"Maybe he was joking," said the Senator, before adding that, under McCain's definition, those making under $3 million would be "middle class."

On Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee followed suit, releasing a highly personalized web ad criticizing McCain on the matter. Titled "Five Million," the spot paints the presumptive Republican nominee as not just blissfully unaware of what constitutes wealth but an out-of-touch elitist in his own right. For good measure, the DNC threw in a clip of McCain's former top economic adviser, ex-Sen. Phil Gramm, calling America a nation of whiners.

The spot, like all of these web ads, will have an impact only to the extent that it gets free media coverage. And this one may lack the defining charge or image (like the McCain campaign mocking Obama as a self-delusional Moses) to allow it to go viral. But it's worth reporting strictly because McCain's $5 million remark -- which he almost instantaneously predicted his opponents would use to make electoral hay - has now founds its way into a succession of political attacks. Perhaps more is in the offing.