Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin referred to herself at the Republican National Convention as being a pit bull with lipstick.

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Arizona Sen. John McCain in May called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care proposals "lipstick on a pig."

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama told a gathering in Virginia on Tuesday that McCain's "change" message was "lipstick on a pig."

"You can put lipstick on a pig," Obama said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years." (Watch Video) (Take Survey)

By late Tuesday, McCain's campaign had organized a telephone conference call in response and called on Obama to apologize for calling Palin a pig. But the Obama camp was having none of that, and the candidate picked up the theme again on Wednesday at another stop in Virginia.

"I'm talking about John McCain's economic policies. It's more of the same," Obama said before a talk about his education platform. "You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. And suddenly they say, 'Oh, you must be talking about the governor of Alaska.'"

"It would be funny, except that of course the news media decided that was the lead story yesterday," Obama said. "The McCain campaign would much rather have a story about funny and phony diversions than about the future. This happens every election cycle. Every four years this is what we do."

With two wars overseas, a struggling economy, energy and education issues confronting the candidates, "This is what they want to talk about," Obama said. "I don't care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift boat politics." (Watch Video) (Take Survey)

Video emerged on the Web site Slate later showing McCain at a Denver campaign appearance in May, criticizing Clinton.

"In 1993 we rejected the Clinton universal health care proposal. It was rejected by the American people. I don't like to use this term, but the latest proposal I see is putting lipstick on a pig,” he is seen and heard saying on the recording.

Slate did not say where it obtained the video.

Still, Obama said at a Tuesday campaign stop in Virginia that he understood why Palin was getting so much attention.

"Look, she's new, she hasn't been on the scene, she's got five kids. And my hat goes off to anybody who is looking after five. I've got two and they tire Michelle and me out," he said.

A questioner rose and asked Obama to join Republicans and agree that candidates' families and religion are off-limits.

Palin's unwed pregnant teenage daughter and the teachings of her church, the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church, have been the subject of scrutiny since McCain picked her as his running mate.

Obama responded that he already has said families are off-limits and he's very protective of his daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha. He said he doesn't want their inevitable future mistakes to become newspaper fodder if he gets to the White House.

Obama also is no stranger to questions about his religion. He's been the subject of a false rumor campaign saying he's a Muslim, and the racially tinged sermons of his longtime former preacher caused problems for his campaign earlier this year.

He stressed that he's a Christian and "so the fact that Gov. Palin is deeply religious, that's a good thing." He said poking around in her religion or saying it's wrong is "offensive" and he wants to have a debate about other issues.

"But don't give people some sort of religious litmus test, because I don't want somebody to question my faith and I'm certainly not going to question somebody else's," he said.