An independent candidate for president, Ralph Nader, is accusing the presumptive Democratic nominee, Senator Obama of Illinois, of seeking to “talk white” in order to win over Caucasion voters. “There’s only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He’s half African-American. Whether that will make any difference, I don’t know,” Mr. Nader told the Rocky Mountain News. “I haven’t heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What’s keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn’t want to appear like Jesse Jackson?”

Mr. Obama wants to avoid being seen as “another politically threatening African-American politician,” Mr. Nader told the Denver-based newspaper. “He wants to appeal to white guilt. … They love it. Whites just eat it up.”

At a news conference yesterday in Chicago, Mr. Obama dismissed the attack as a publicity stunt. “Ralph Nader’s trying to get attention. He’s become a perennial political candidate. I think it’s a shame,” the senator of Illinois said. He also said Mr. Nader’s campaign “hasn’t gotten any traction.”

Mr. Obama insisted that he regularly addresses issues such as predatory lending and the housing crisis. “What’s clear is Ralph Nader hasn’t been paying attention to my speeches.”

OBAMA AIDE SEES BARR AS SPOILER FOR MCCAIN

Senator Obama’s campaign manager says a former congressman running as the Libertarian candidate for president, Robert Barr, could act as a spoiler this fall for Senator McCain. At a briefing for reporters, the Obama strategist, David Plouffe, said Alaska “is one of the states where we think Barr can get 6, 7, 8%,” Politico reported. In Georgia, which is Mr. Barr’s home state and a possible target for Mr. Obama because of its African-American population, Mr. Barr could draw 4%, “most of it coming out of McCain’s hide,” Mr. Plouffe said.

MCCAIN DOWNPLAYS 15-POINT LAG IN POLL

Senator McCain and his campaign are trying to discredit and downplay a Los Angeles Time/Bloomberg News poll released Tuesday that showed Senator Obama leading him nationally, 48% to 33%. “It’s good to see yourself running, for us to be, most polls show us frankly two, three, four points down,” Mr. McCain said at a fund-raiser yesterday, according to a pool reporter. “That’s good for this stage of the game, particularly considering the headwind we have on our economy.” He noted Mr. Obama’s “substantial lead” in the L.A. Times poll, but pointed to a Gallup tracking poll released yesterday showing the two even.

In a memo to the press, Mr. McCain’s pollster, William McInturff, said only 22% of participants in the L.A. Times survey were self-identified Republicans, a figure he said was “greatly out of line” with other polls.

OBAMA SHARES FUND-RAISERS WITH CLINTON

Senator Obama is sharing one his most valuable assets — his top fund-raisers — with former rival Senator Clinton to help her pay off her debt, the latest effort to heal the wounds of a bruising primary campaign.

Mr. Obama on Tuesday asked his finance team to help Mrs. Clinton pay back at least $10 million from her failed presidential campaign, setting the stage for joint appearances by the two former rivals later in the week. In a teleconference with his top fund-raisers, Mr. Obama asked them to do what they could to help Mrs. Clinton.

“What I said was to my large donors who are in a position to write large checks, to help Senator Clinton retire her debt, or at least a portion of it. And I think they’re going to be those who are willing to do so,” Mr. Obama told reporters at a news conference in Chicago.

A large chunk of Mr. Obama’s cash has come from small donors, but he said he was not making the same appeal to them.

“I’m not going to be individually contacting $15 donors, because frankly, it probably wouldn’t be that effective in terms of making a big dent in Senator Clinton’s debt,” Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama’s green light to his money bundlers came before he and Mrs. Clinton were scheduled to meet in Washington today with some of her top fund-raisers in a show of unity after their bruising contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Tomorrow, the two plan to campaign together in New Hampshire.

Mr. Obama clinched the nomination earlier this month; Mrs. Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed him.