Senator Obama savaged the Arizona senator's self-promotion as a ''maverick'' who could fix Washington's fractured politics, as the contenders returned to a war of words over United States energy policy at a time of sky-high fuel prices.

Senator McCain, despite new polls that showed Senator Obama leading on the economy, insisted he had the right approach to stem a tidal wave of job losses and home foreclosures.

''Our surge has succeeded in Iraq militarily. Now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones,'' the Republican said at a kitchen cabinet factory in the distressed state of Ohio.

Senator McCain called for lower business taxes, new markets for US goods abroad, lower health-care costs and for an assault on ''out-of-control spending'' by the Government and Congress.

He said Senator Obama's plan would raise taxes on business, income and investment and reinforced the point with a new television spot that asked, ''Is the biggest celebrity in the world ready to help your family?

''This is exactly the wrong strategy,'' Senator McCain said.

''Raising taxes in a bad economy is about the worst thing you can do because it will kill even more jobs when what we need are policies that create jobs.''

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll said Senator Obama was, by a 54-43 per cent margin, seen as the better choice to fix the economy, which was well ahead of the Iraq war as the top concern of voters.

Another poll by Time magazine gave Senator Obama a 43-39 per cent edge on the economy, and an overall lead in the presidential race of five points 46 per cent to 41. CBS News had Senator Obama on 45 per cent overall to Senator McCain's 39 per cent.

Senator Obama addressed a ''town hall'' meeting in Indiana yesterday in the company of one of the state's US senators, Evan Bayh, touted as a possible running mate for the Democrat.

Senator Obama said he agreed with Senator McCain's recent assertion that US dependence on foreign oil had been caused by the failure of Washington politicians to think for the long-term over the past 30 years. ''What Senator McCain neglected to mention was that during those 30 years, he was in Washington for 26 of them,'' he said, reprising Senator McCain's assertion the nation has made ''great progress economically'' under President George W.Bush.

The Democrat also ridiculed Senator McCain's energy policy as an ''early Christmas list for oil and gas lobbyists,'' and noted that the Republican had now agreed with him on the need for drivers to properly inflate their tyres to save fuel.

Senator Obama said last week that if every US vehicle had fully inflated tyres, it could free up as much oil as could be gained by resorting to Senator McCain's proposal to drill offshore. That led to a satirical savaging from the McCain camp, which has taken to handing out tyre gauges to mockingly sum up Senator Obama's energy policy. But Senator McCain later invoked the American Automobile Association's call for tyres to be pumped up.

In another exchange, Senator Obama spokesman Bill Burton asked, ''Is the biggest proponent of George Bush's tired, failed, policies ready to bring about change?'' AFP