John McCain, who often invokes his ordeal as a Vietnam war prisoner to show his devotion to his country as he runs for U.S. president, drew on the experience again on Monday -- this time to deflect sniping over the number of houses he owns.
McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama last week accused the Republican senator of being out of touch with ordinary people after he was unable to say in an interview how many houses were owned by him and his wife Cindy, a wealthy heiress to a beer distributorship.
In an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, McCain, 71, said his priority was to keep Americans in their homes in tough economic times.
Then he recalled his Vietnam experience.
"I spent 5 1/2 years in a prison cell without -- I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair," he said.
"I spent those 5 1/2 years ... not because I wanted to get a house when I got out."
Economy in the crosshairs
Rising energy prices and the faltering economy have become central issues in the race for the White House. The next president will inherit problems including a mortgage crisis that has cost many Americans their homes.
McCain said he was prepared to deal with that and sought to play down the controversy over his family's assets.
"I'm proud of my record of service to this country and it has nothing to do with houses. What it has to do with (is) putting Americans in houses and keeping them in their homes. And that's what I know how to do," he said to loud cheers from the studio audience.
On the show the Arizona senator listed four homes he and his wife have — one in the Washington area, two in Arizona and one in California. Media reports and Democrats have said the couple have at least seven properties when investments are included.
McCain said he was proud of the way his wife's father had built up a large business after fighting in World War Two.
With the Democrats engaged in their convention in Denver this week that will formally nominate Obama and the Republicans due to meet next week, polls show the two candidates locked in a dead heat in the popular vote. McCain predicted a tight finish in the November 4 election
Obama's house in the affluent Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park is worth more than $1.5 million, and he has made millions from the publication of two autobiographical books.