After a highly charged and negative week of the presidential campaign against his Democratic rival Barack Obama, Senator John McCain toned down his expression towards Obama during his town hall meeting in a Minneapolis suburb on Friday. He had to, in fact, defend Obama and urge thousands of supporters to cool their exceedingly acerbic anti-Obama oratory.

He tried to pacify the crowd of skeptical supporters, asking them to be respectful of his rival for the presidency, in spite of his deep policy differences with Obama. His running mate, Sarah Palin, allies and his own advertising, however, unleashed a flurry of attacks on Obama’s ethics, touting his ties to a Vietnam War-era radical and accusing him of being connected to a group accused of engaging in voter fraud.

Amid boos from the crowd, McCain said: “We want to fight and I want to fight, but we will be respectful. I want everyone to be respectful, and let’s be sure we are....That doesn’t mean you have to reduce your ferocity. It’s just got to be respectful.” He called Obama “a decent family man”, and added that he admires Obama’s accomplishments.

His latest comments appear to have come in reaction to the way an angry crowd behaved at Wisconsin rally a day earlier. The McCain supporters shouted epithets Obama, pumped their fists angrily in the air and catcalled repeatedly when Obama’s name was mentioned. Some called him a “socialist”, others “an Arab”, and many even flipped their middle finger as a press bus drove by.

Of late, Republican supporters have been heard shouting out that Obama is a terrorist, traitor and criminal, at most of the recent rallies. Staunch supporters have gone to the extent of pleading with the GOP nominee to attack Obama using his associations with people like Bill Ayers, or risk losing the presidential election November 4.

At times, during the Friday meeting, McCain reluctantly succumbed to the supporters’ pressure and attacked Obama’s Ayers connection. He said Obama was not telling the truth about his relationship with the 1960s radical, and added: “Senator Obama said that Mr. Ayers was a guy in the neighborhood, when in reality, his political career was launched in Mr. Ayers’ living room.”

McCain also called for “a full and complete and thorough investigation” of allegations of voter registration fraud, though he refrained from saying anything else on the issue.