Foreign tour 'no victory lap'

London - White House hopeful Barack Obama denied Saturday his adulation-soaked foreign tour amounted to a premature victory lap, but admitted it could see him take a short term dip in opinion polls back home.

The Democratic candidate wrapped up his Europe and Middle East swing with talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, before setting course for the United States, and the intense crossfire of the campaign trail.

"I am not sure that there is going to be some immediate political impact," Obama said in a solo press conference outside 10 Downing Street, Brown's official residence.

"I wouldn't even be surprised if that in some polls you saw a little bit of a dip as a consequence.

"We've been out of the country for a week. People are worried about gas prices, they're worried about home foreclosures," he explained.

200 000-strong crowd

Obama sailed through the biggest tests of his trip, in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel, apparently gaffe-free, and captured an unprecedented photo-op for a presidential candidate before a staggering 200 000 people in Berlin.

Republicans, however, branded his tour - also including Kuwait, France and Jordan - as a shallow political stunt.

Opinion polls back home meanwhile suggested that if anything, the race narrowed between Obama and Republican rival John McCain during his nine-day absence.

McCain, who has struggled to get media coverage in the United States during Obama's trip, delivered his own sarcastic verdict on Obama's travels in his weekly radio address to Americans on Saturday.

"With all the breathless coverage from abroad, and with Senator Obama now addressing his speeches to 'the people of the world' I'm starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too."

'Premature victory lap'

On Thursday, McCain's spokesperson Tucker Bounds derided Obama's trip as a "premature victory lap".

But the Illinois Senator attempted to turn the tables on his rival after meeting Brown.

"It is hard for me to understand Senator McCain's argument, he was telling me I was supposed to take this trip," he said, referring to the McCain camp's apparent desire to see Obama make a damaging gaffe while overseas.

"He suggested it and thought it was a good idea, although I have to admit we had it planned before he made the suggestion."

Latest opinion polls in the United States show McCain chipping away at Obama's national lead, which stands at between one and six points, and closing in some key battlegrounds.

A Gallup poll found Obama leading McCain 47-41%, a four-point gain by the Republican hopeful from earlier in the week.

- AFP