MANCHESTER, N.H. — Even as he unceasingly attacks his Republican rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is ignoring the person on the ticket who is the center of attention: Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

A few syllables are all Obama expends on the Republican vice-presidential nominee. He'll mention "McCain-Palin" when he's on the trail; beyond that, her name is taboo.

Obama brought his newly aggressive campaign against Republican opponent John McCain to an open-air rally here, castigating the senator from Arizona as a latecomer to the cause of change and imploring about 8,000 Granite State citizens to ignore the GOP's barrage of negative attacks.

"The McCain-Palin ticket, they don't want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on the issues, because they're running on eight more years," Obama said at Veterans Memorial Park. "They will try to distort my record, and they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats want to do. ... But the times are too serious for those strategies to work this time."

After a long period of focusing his attention on more intimate events in high school gyms and work sites that communicated the feel of a candidate meeting face-to-face with voters, Obama returned to large crowds with the Manchester rally. The McCain campaign had long criticized such big events as a form of "celebrity" worship but has adopted the format since the addition of Palin to the Republican ticket.

However, yesterday's event was toned down as Hurricane Ike ravaged Texas. An appearance by running mate Joe Biden was scrapped. A scheduled appearance on "Saturday Night Live" was canceled.

Obama opened his rally with an appeal for help for the hurricane victims in Texas.

But unlike his response during Hurricane Gustav, Obama did not declare a temporary cease-fire. Instead, Obama quickly pivoted from sympathy for the victims of Ike to a more aggressive speech focused squarely on the struggling economy, saying that "there are a lot of quiet storms going on all across America."

McCain, who was off the campaign trail yesterday, issued a statement about Hurricane Ike expressing concern that "there may have been a substantial loss of life." He added: "We do know that the economic impact from this storm will be severe. ... But our priority now must be to help the relief effort in any way we can, and to pray for the safety of those in the storm's path."

Meanwhile, his campaign tried to shift that criticism to Obama.

"It says a lot about Barack Obama's judgment that while his campaign canceled his appearance on 'Saturday Night Live' and his running mate stayed home, Obama went ahead and delivered a series of scathing personal attacks," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, calling the speech "a new low."