Barack Obama said Saturday that he doesn't think John McCain's campaign is racist, only cynical, as Obama tried to battle charges that he was playing the race card earlier in the week.

The Illinois senator caught flak from McCain's campaign for telling Missouri voters that Republicans would try to scare voters away from him, partly because of the way he looks.

After several days of political crossfire on the issue, Obama said he was merely trying to express that he and his biography still were "sort of unfamiliar" to voters.

"I don't come out of central casting when it comes to a presidential race for a whole range of reasons," he told reporters in Cape Canaveral, Fla. "I'm young. I'm new to the national scene. My name is Barack Obama. I am African American. I was born in Hawaii. I spent time in Indonesia. I do not have the typical biography of a presidential candidate."

He said McCain's strategy is to cast him as "risky."

"Let me be clear -- in no way do I think that John McCain's campaign was being racist," Obama added. "I think they were cynical and I think they want to distract from talking about the real issues."

Obama did not mention race specifically earlier in the week, but at a June fundraiser in Florida he said: "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. ... They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?"

Obama clarified Saturday that he doesn't think it's accurate to say his comments "have nothing to do with race."

The Illinois senator also disputed characterizations, in the media and by Republicans, that he is being arrogant or presumptuous. He said a flurry of ads by the McCain campaign, which liken him to pop divas and even Moses, are distractions that aren't really taking hold in the minds of voters.

"The one thing we know about the team that John McCain's assembled ... is that they're very good at negative campaigns. They're not so good at governing," Obama said.

Critics have painted the portrait of Obama as arrogant or presumptuous following his return last week from his trip overseas, where he got a rock-star reception in several European locations.

McCain's campaign mockingly tagged him "the biggest celebrity in the world" in an ad released Wednesday.

But while Obama consistently has led in the polls, the Gallup tracking poll Friday showed McCain and Obama tied at 44 percent each.

Obama seemed to respond Saturday to the McCain campaign's recent ad approach.

"It's not really clear exactly what it's based on. If I was presumptuous or taking this for granted I wouldn't be working this hard this week. I'm beat," he said. "Obviously ... we think this is going to be a close race all the way through."

Obama denied he was going negative, and McCain did the same on Friday after his campaign released its Web ad comparing Obama to Moses.

"I don't think our campaign is negative in the slightest. We think it's got a lot of humor in it and we're having fun and enjoying it," McCain said.

A McCain campaign spokesman, Tucker Bounds, said in a statement Saturday: "We're glad the Obama campaign retracted Barack Obama's accusation because it was absolutely false, and we're moving on. The only 'cynical' candidate in this election is Barack Obama for his continued opposition to John McCain's comprehensive energy plan that includes additional oil drilling, gas tax relief and affordable nuclear energy."

The Illinois Democrat caused a stir this week when he announced he would support a compromise plan in Congress that would allow some offshore oil drilling, reversing his longstanding opposition. He argued that drilling is part of a larger energy package that includes many other items that he backs.

Offshore drilling is a major issue in Florida and other coastal states with miles of pristine beaches, which are a staple of the tourism industry that drives their economies.

"At some point people are going to have to make decisions. Are we going to keep arguing or are we going to get things done?" Obama said Saturday.

"What I don't want to do is for the best to be the enemy of the good," he said. "And if we can come up with a genuine bipartisan compromise, in which I have to accept some things that I don't like or the Democrats have to accept some things that they don't like in exchange for actually moving us in the direction of actual energy independence, then that's something I'm open to."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.