As Barack Obama delivered a high-profile speech in Berlin, McCain said he was focusing his attention this week on economic issues, including soaring food and fuel costs. He has been busy campaigning and raising funds in key battleground states like Ohio.
In what was clearly not a coincidence, McCain spoke with reporters shortly before Obama began his speech at Berlin's Victory Column.
At the same time, the Republican National Committee was running anti-Obama ads in Berlin, Pa., and other namesake villages in Wisconsin and New Hampshire.
McCain is trying hard to get attention during Obama's week abroad. He had planned to visit an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, but rough seas left over from Hurricane Dolly caused him to scrub that trip.
On Thursday evening, he shared a stage at the Ohio State University with fellow cancer survivor Lance Armstrong at a forum that focused on cancer treatment and prevention.
"Yes, I was in a battle. Not a war; I was in a battle with melanoma. And I know how tough lot more pro-American than their predecessors were," he said.
The Arizona senator defended his assertions that Obama was more interested in winning a campaign than winning the war in Iraq.
Democrats have suggested McCain went overboard, implying that the Illinois Democrat would put the nation's children at jeopardy for political reasons.
"All of us care about our children," McCain said. "I stand by my comments."
McCain has complained that Obama's support for a fixed timetable to withdraw troops ignores recent progress made under President Bush's troop buildup.
"It's clear Sen. Obama doesn't understand what's at stake here.
It's pretty obvious he's taken this position to secure the nomination of his party."
Of Friday's meeting with the Dalai Lama in Colorado, McCain called the Tibetan spiritual leader "a transcendent national role-model."
"I have been a great admirer of the Dalai Lama," said McCain, a sharp critic of the Chinese crackdown in the Tibetan region.
Ohio is a key swing state. Recent polls have suggested a close contest between Obama and McCain. President Bush narrowly defeated Democrat John Kerry here in 2004, and some Democrats have suggested that voting irregularities that favored Republicans helped swing the election Bush's way.
German Village is in the 15th congressional district, held by Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce. It encompasses most of the city of Columbus and its southern and western suburbs. Pryce won in the last congressional election by a narrow margin.
Before settling down to lunch, McCain bounded through the crowded restaurant shaking hands and posing for photographs with lunchtime patrons.
He was overheard remarking on the "great sausages here." The restaurant's specialties are "Bahama Mama" bratwurst and cream puffs.
"Can we have a couple of cream puffs to go, too?" he asked.
