JohmMcCain.com - Where YOU Decide The Political News Cycle

John McCain is working overtime to grab headlines as Barack Obama enters the thick of a high-profile tour abroad that has all but transported the U.S. media overseas.

With a plane full of reporters in tow, Obama met with Jordanian King Abdullah II Tuesday before heading to Israel for meetings with top officials there and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Meanwhile, McCain was holding one of his trademark town hall meetings in Rochester, N.H. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper, McCain was greeted by just one reporter and one photographer when his plane landed in the Granite State Monday night.

But as Obama enjoys a worldwide audience, the McCain campaign is using several tacks to stay in the headlines and command attention stateside.

The campaign on Monday engaged in a high-profile battle with The New York Times editorial page for refusing to run one of his columns on the Iraq war. And speculation about a possible running-mate selection this week, which the campaign refuses to shoot down, has kept McCain in the mix.

Most visibly, the Arizona senator’s campaign is letting no Obama statement on foreign policy go unchallenged, hitting back hard against the Democratic candidate with memos, surrogates and conference calls as Obama makes his way from the Middle East to Europe.

After the Illinois senator told ABC News on Monday night that he would still have opposed the troop surge in Iraq even knowing what he knows now, McCain’s campaign accused him of playing politics.

And after Obama readily admitted Tuesday that Gen. David Petraeus “no doubt” opposes the kind of troop withdrawal timetable he’s proposing, McCain’s team chided him for ignoring the advice of the military.

McCain plans virtually every day to unleash a new attack on Obama.

“I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war,” McCain said at his town hall meeting Tuesday, referring to his support for the troop surge. “It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.”

It’s still early, but McCain hasn’t yet suffered a sustained dip in the polls from Obama’s expanded media exposure, suggesting Americans may not be paying attention or aren’t impressed.

Tuesday’s Gallup poll, based on combined results from Saturday to Monday, showed McCain just 3 points behind Obama. He was 6 points down Monday.

Obama’s campaign could get a lift after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki backed withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by 2010, a statement that would put his desires roughly in line with Obama’s withdrawal timetable.

Obama mentioned that support Tuesday when he said the United States must bring that war to an end so military forces can “finish the fight” against terrorists in Afghanistan.

Regarding any crossfire with McCain, Obama said: “My hope is to avoid a colloquy with the McCain campaign over the next four or five days.”

Under the radar, the McCain campaign has also been able to steal a slice of the show with running mate talk.

Speculation began to swirl Monday that McCain could announce his vice presidential pick this week. Well-placed sources told FOX News the campaign has discussed the merits of unveiling his choice this week, and one insider said the media should not throw cold water on that possibility.

The campaign would not outright reject the speculation. One aide said only that no announcement would be made Monday. Senior adviser Mark Salter said he had “no comment and he is not authorized to say anything” regarding the No. 2 pick.

McCain has plans later in the week to visit New Orleans, reportedly with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a potential running mate choice. Several other names are also in the mix.

But on Tuesday, Robert Novak, who earlier reported that McCain might unveil his running mate pick this week, told FOX News that it might all be a ruse to keep McCain in the spotlight. On top of that, reports noted that Cindy McCain is traveling and it’s unlikely a decision would be announced without her by her husband’s side.

Speculation of a vice presidential candidate has centered on Mitt Romney recently, and his aides say he is on vacation this week in Ontario.

“I since have been told by certain people that this was a dodge — they were trying to get a little publicity to rain on Obama’s campaign,” Novak said.

McCain has told reporters he doesn’t care if Obama’s trip was stealing attention and thinks it “doesn’t in the slightest” undercut his own message.

But on Tuesday the campaign released two videos set to love songs and encouraged viewers to choose which one best conveyed this message: “The media is in love with Barack.”

Political analyst John Avlon said McCain is using the attention Obama’s receiving overseas to score points, “trying to do a little political judo to make that a negative.”

“This time last year, (McCain) wasn’t getting any coverage either, and people were writing him off — he’s been here before,” Avlon told FOX News. “What the McCain campaign is doing is saying, ‘Hold on now, we have an imbalanced coverage of our candidate, there still is an election going on,’ and guess what — don’t count John McCain out.”

FOX News’ Carl Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report.