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So, John McCain might be trying to liken Barack Obama to celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in a new TV ad, but our Arizona senator is the one whose former home is being listed as a celebrity property.

Yes, it's a buyer's market — but the current owner of John and Cindy's old North Phoenix home is hoping that with the couple enjoying a national spotlight, she can charge a hefty price for the 14,000-square-foot pad.

The McCains sold the crib to real-estate investor Jane Popple in 2006, and now she's asking $12 million for it — nearly four times what she paid.

The couple lived in the home for 20 years, and while it's Cindy's childhood home, Popple has renovated the house, according to her agent, Bob Hassett. New features include a seven-car garage and a four-bedroom guest apartment.

It hasn't been completely gutted: Handprints of the McCains in a concrete slab outside the kitchen remain.

No bites yet, but the property is getting a lot of attention — "Inside Edition" and "Good Morning America" are both planning segments.

"I've never had this kind of excitement over a home before," said Hassett, who predicts that if McCain is our next president, this property will skyrocket in value.

It looks like Britney Spears has now become the issue du jour in the 2008 presidential campaign.

McCain's attempt to link Spears to Obama was the big story of the week, and on Friday national Democrats sought to turn the criticism around.

The Dems dug out a CNN interview from 2003 in which Spears said, "I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes." They said that mirrors comments McCain made early this year ("No one has supported President Bush on Iraq more than I have").

So who's more like Britney, McCain or Obama?

Well, in this case, maybe both sides just need to belt out a line from Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again": "I'm not that innocent ..."

In an effort to keep Demo-crats excited through Election Day, the Obama campaign has been holding more than 1,000 community meetings across the nation for people to explain what they want to see in the party's official platform.

Recently, Gov. Janet Napolitano — head of the campaign's Platform Drafting Committee — sat in on one such meeting inside a Mexican restaurant in downtown Phoenix, where the party faithful rolled out their suggestions.

The Obama campaign was looking to find out what mattered most to these voters, moderators explained. The 50 or so in attendance stressed the need for better schools and more affordable health care.

But needless to say, not all their suggestions are likely to make it into the Democratic Party platform.

One attendee suggested the party do something that could set off feminist groups: Take a hard stance in declaring that abortion is morally wrong, while framing their support for abortion rights as a personal health issue.

Another wanted Obama to take a real political risk by declaring the need to raise taxes on the middle class. We'll let you know when that happens.

In a new e-mail blast, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is asking supporters to join a lottery for the chance to have dinner with her.

Why is the New York senator and former first lady still raising money nearly two months after stepping out of the race? Clinton needs to pay off more than $20 million in campaign debt.

With a $5 donation, supporters get entered into the contest.

"This is my first chance to sit down and spend some real one-on-one time with you," Clinton says. "My staff has been calling this my 'retirement dinner' — not because I'm retiring, of course, but because we're working on retiring the debt we owe to small vendors all over the country."

Check out Notebook every Wednesday, in addition to Sundays, during the election season.

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