Obama: McCain better than Bush

Barack Obama seemed to break with the core of the Democratic Party's strategy against John McCain at a town hall in Reading, telling the audience that McCain would be better than George W. Bush.

"You have a real choice in this election. Either Democrat would be better than John McCain," Obama said. "And all three of us would be better than George Bush."

Obama himself has described McCain as running for a third Bush term, and the leading Democratic 527 tested an ad earlier this year arguing that the Arizona senator is "McSame as Bush."

So it's a strategically puzzling thing to say, one that will likely be used to undermine some of the party's future ads, though perhaps Obama is just saying what he thinks.