John McCain and his campaign officials fought back against wall-to-wall Obama coverage with a sense of humor and ironic staging. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t.

» The McCain camp beat Obama’s camp in YouTube traffic for a couple of days by creating a tongue-in-cheek Web ad called “Obama Love.” The montage of media exaltations of Obama logged more than 100,000 views on the video-sharing Web site, but hit a snag when it became clear the campaign hadn’t secured the rights for the background music, Frankie Valli’s “I Only Have Eyes for You.” Oops. It has since been reposted with royalty-free music.

» The McCain campaign took another poke at the media, issuing its own traveling press corps new credentials emblazoned with a Statue of Liberty and the message, “McCain Press Corps: JV Squad. ‘Left behind to report in America.’”

» In the run-up to his hyped trip overseas, McCain advisers began referring in statements to Obama as “The One.”

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» The Republican National Committee responded to Obama’s Berlin speech by running radio ads in Berlin, N.H., Berlin, Pa., and Berlin, Wis.

» McCain caught a lot of flak for showing up at Schmidt’s Sausage Haus in Columbus, Ohio, in a feeble attempt to counter-program Obama’s Germany visit, but perhaps more unfortunate was the unintentionally funny staging of a brief stump speech for the somewhat senescent senator in a grocery aisle marked, “Dairy Delights.”

» A new anti-Obama advertisement from the McCain camp showed pop-culture savvy by including pop princesses Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. “Celeb” is sure to draw plenty of eyes by including the perennially top-searched queens of celebrity gossip.