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Facing a Democratic Party positively giddy over his recent admission that he didn't know how many houses he owned, John McCain quickly returned to a political trump card: his POW experience.

Speaking to the Washington Post, aide Brian Rogers, in full damage-control mode, acknowledged that his boss had "some investment properties and stuff," but added: "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison."

That the McCain campaign could incorporate his service in Vietnam into a campaign spat over his property portfolio is not so surprising. The Senator has, rightfully or not, used his history as a POW shrewdly and repeatedly throughout this campaign. Earlier this week, for instance, amidst speculation that the Senator may have received in advance the questions to a values forum between him and Obama, spokeswoman Nicole Wallace declared: "The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous."

When Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Senator John Edwards, ridiculed McCain's health care policy, his aides didn't respond with a substantive retort. Rather, they declared that their boss knew what it was like to get inadequate care "from another government." Even earlier, when the topic was about earmarks, McCain criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton for proposing funds for a museum celebrating Woodstock. He didn't know what there was to celebrate, he said, because he was "tied up" during the music festival.

The Senator has even brought his military record into discussion of his music tastes. Explaining that his favorite song was "Dancing Queen" by ABBA, he offered that his knowledge of music "stopped evolving when his plane intercepted a surface-to-air missile." Dancing Queen, however, was produced in 1975, eight years after McCain's plane was shot down.

Preceding this election, there was a fairly wide-ranging belief that McCain was hesitant to use his POW experience in a political context. The Senator himself, during the 2004 election, said he was "sick and tired of re-fighting" the Vietnam War.

"It's offensive to me, and it's angering to me that we're doing this," he said. "It's time to move on."

But during this campaign, it seems such reluctance is no longer an issue, with the POW line sneaking into many of the campaign's commercials and -- more subtly -- their foreign policy attacks. Much of this strategy has come at the urging of GOP operatives. Karl Rove, for example, wrote an April 2008 Wall Street Journal op-ed urging the presumptive Republican nominee to "open up more" on his Vietnam days or "many voters will never know the experiences of his life that show his character."

Democrats, meanwhile, have been torn over what is an appropriate response. While many attack-oriented strategists have been pleading a more head-on rebuttal (applauding, for instance, Gen Wesley Clark for declaring that one's time as a POW had no relevance to being commander in chief), the Obama campaign seems more willing to deflect any and all attention from this part of McCain's biography.

"The fact is, we respect Senator McCain's service and his courage in Vietnam, but we continue to believe that this election is about who is the best president to lead in the 21st Century," Philip Carter, Obama's veterans director, told the Huffington Post. "As you heard on the phone today with the veterans, the critical issue is who understands the threats facing this country and who will make the right decisions about war and peace. That person is Barack Obama, not Senator McCain."

The "Biden" ad: Advisors say that spot has been ready for "a couple days." The McCain team says they assessed that Kaine "utterly disqualified himself" on the basis of the experience question and asserted that Obama does not particularly like Evan Bayh. "Who did that leave?" So they had the Biden spot ready to go.

"Passed Over" ad: McCain advisors say they assesd the 3 a.m. Obama text as an "avoidable" slight to Sen. Clinton and a belated elbow for the primary season 3 a.m. call spot. As First Read mentioned in First Thoughts, the campaign featured Hillary Clinton's words as an attack on Obama in the latest "Passed Over" ad.

Reaction to Biden selection: McCain advisors say Biden's career has not been covered in the Pennsylvania media market. They acknowledge his Scranton, blue-collar roots, but suggest Delaware, with a very small media market, does not have the kind of bleed over seen in New Jersey where NY politicians/issues are saturated. Biden "will fire up conservatives," they claim, because of his positions and conduct on the Judiciary Committee. "That gives us license there," advisors say. Think Roberts, Alito and Clarence Thomas.

The JUDGMENT question: McCain advisors say Obama has waged his candidacy on his "superior judgment" and they point out that Biden supported the Iraq war vote, then advocated partitioning of Iraq which McCain folks call "a terrible idea." Obviously, they will press on the readiness factor, saying Biden has "strongly and consistently" criticized Obama's readiness to be president while Biden "spoke glowingly about McCain on a number of issues."

McCain folks will, of course, repeatedly hammer at the notion the Biden pick "undermines the change message." Biden and Obama also differed on some foreign policy issues and advisors point to Biden's criticism of Obama on the issue of sitting down with rogue leaders in the first year of a term in office.

The ABORTION issue: Advisors ask, "What happens to pro-choice Catholics in politics?" They face criticism from Church officials and related groups, they said.

ATTACK DOG ROLE: McCain advisors' assessment is that Biden "doesn't wear well" in attack mode, adding ,"There is no way he's not gonna make mistakes of a big nature."

THE HOW MANY HOUSES? ISSUE: Advisors have gone silent on Romney and other short listers. On the wealth factor... McCain advisors say the senator's response in the Politico interview was "in artful." They knock its potency by saying that voters "hate class warfare" and that "McCain doesn't come across as an elitist."

Advisors say if Obama gets "nastier" on that issue that opens the door for them. Advisors say the "Rezko deal stinks to the high heavens." They will be prepared to show McCain's "home" in Hanoi by using images of his cell. They claim they have not overused the POW element and insist they have "underused it." They say Americans think most people in presidential politics are wealthy and will point out that Obama "made himself a multi-millionaire after he entered public life."

They suggest McCain should have responded, as he has before, that he is proud of Cindy's family and grateful for their success and blessings. That they have four homes, including his work week residence in the DC area, they claim. The others, advisors say, should be described as Cindy providing for other family members -- an elderly aunt, a daughter, etc., live in property she owns.

STATE OF THE RACE: Advisors say, "I'll take it." when describing the tightening of poll numbers. They call the ABC poll with them down six an outlier -- though most polls showed about that margin a month ago. They are most pleased on their move on economic issues and suggest Obama won't be able to catch McCain on the national security polling. They assert Obama's unfavorables have risen while "ours have not" -- though that assemssment does not hold up in the most recent NBC/WSJ poll.

They will be prepared to show McCain's "home" in Hanoi by using images of his cell. They claim they have not overused the POW element and insist they have "underused it."