ALBUQUERQUE — The last time John McCain came to Albuquerque, he seemed intent on fueling doubts about Barack Obama's character. But on Saturday, appearing before a friendly crowd at the state fair grounds, McCain focused almost entirely on economic issues.

In early October McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, chose Albuquerque to unveil a new line of attack on his Democratic opponent, asking repeatedly, "Who is Barack Obama?" and making disparagingly comments about Obama's campaign contributions and his roots in Chicago politics.

But on Saturday he seemed less concerned with Obama's identity McCain seemed far less concerned about Obama's campaign funds than his tax plan.

As he's done steadily since the last presidential debate, McCain hammered a statement by Obama that he wanted to "spread the wealth around."

McCain sarcastically repeated the phrase "spread the wealth" several times, provoking loud "boos" from the crowd.

"As he told Joe the plumber back in Ohio, he wants to, quote, 'spread the wealth.' ... He believes in redistributing wealth. That means talking money from one group of Americans and giving it to another. That's been tried before in other countries. That's not America. We believe in policies that grow our economy and create jobs."

"Joe the plumber" is Joe Wurzelbacher, an Toledo, Ohio man who confronted Obama, who was campaigning in his neighborhood. Wurzelbacher, who wants to buy the plumbing business for which he works, told Obama he was concerned the Democrat's tax plan would hurt his effort to buy the business. Obama said only those earning more than $250,000 a year would see tax increases. "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody," Obama told Wurzelbacher.

"Sen. Obama may be trying the soak the rich, but it's the middle class that's going to be put through the wringer," McCain said.

McCain repeated one charge that has been disputed by Factcheck.org. Obama, he said, "voted 94 times for tax increases or against tax cuts."

However, the non-partisan Factcheck wrote, "The real breakdown includes: 23 (Obama) votes against tax cuts (which would have produced no increase in taxes); seven votes that would have lowered taxes for most people, but increased taxes on a few; 11 votes that would have increased taxes on those making over $1 million a year. The majority of the 94 votes (53 of them, including some of the above) were on budget measures, not tax bills, and would not have resulted in any tax change. Four other votes were non-binding motions related to conference report negotiations."

McCain, in the first part of his speech, stressed that he is a Western senator from neighboring Arizona. He said he understands water, immigration and Native American issues and appreciates the Hispanic culture. He chided Obama for never having visited countries South of the border.

McCain was accompanied by his wife Cindy McCain as well as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

A state Republican spokeswoman said the party had handed out about 3,000 tickets for the speech, which took place shortly after 10 a.m.

One couple from Fort Sumner, N.M., Jerry and Victoria Crabb, said they had to get up at 4 a.m. to drive to see McCain.

Both were wearing red "Support Our Troops" T-Shirts and both said the trip was worth it, although Jerry Crabb, a construction worker, said he'd only gotten about four hours of sleep the night before.

"We used to listen to music but now we listen to Fox News 24-7," said Victoria Crabb, an independent accountant.

Monte Parr, a construction consultant in Albuquerque, described himself as a "belligerent Republican." He said he's seen McCain speak twice before and Saturday's speech was his best. "I like his optimism, the fact he's uncompromising and firm about what he believes in and he's not afraid to question his opponent who is absolutely wrong on his policies," Parr attended the rally with his wife Susan Sherwood Parr, who has written a biography of McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin: Faith Family Career.

Sigi Ruiz, a 30-year-old Albuquerque plumber, was wearing a "Plumbers for McCain" T-shirt, as were other members of his family.

Ruiz identifies with McCain's "Joe the plumber" talk. "It's not good for us to pay more taxes," he said. But he said he was for McCain long before the candidate made Joe an overnight celebrity. "We're values voters," he said, explaining that he and his family are "Pro-life and pro-marriage."

Mike Storms, 20, a technician at Eclipse Aviation in Albuquerque, said McCain gave an excellent speech, but he wished the candidate would also have spoken about issues such as abortion and gun rights.

But Storms, a first-time voter, said he strongly agrees with McCain's message that redistributing the wealth is wrong. "That means socialism, he said. "I don't want our country to end up like China or Cuba.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.