NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry says the current controversy over offshore drilling is a phony issue put in to distract voters.

The Massachusetts senator was outspoken on the issue during an appearance Monday afternoon in North Adams.

There's a new political term based on what happened with Kerry in 2004. It's called swift-boating -- basically using an issue with facts in dispute to distract voters.

This year, offshore drilling may become the swift-boating of 2008.

"There are 68 million acres of available leases right now that are already permitted, that they're not drilling. Forty million of them are offshore today and they're not using them. So this is a phony argument," Kerry said.

During a tour of downtown North Adams, the senator was very clear about his view of the offshore drilling issue.

"America only has three percent of the world's oil reserves. We can go offshore and we can't affect the price of oil and we can't affect our independence. I think it's phony, phony, phony governance. They're trying to mislead people and pretend they're going to affect your gas price. They're not going to do that and they're avoiding doing the things we really need to do, which is put money into alternative and renewable fuels and research," Kerry insisted.

The senator also commented on Republican campaign ads that compare Barack Obama's fame to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

"It's judgment you're electing for president and Barack Obama had the right judgment on Iraq, he had the right judgment on Afghanistan, he had the right judgment on Iran and everything that he made as a judgment a year ago or two years ago now the Bush administration is coming to. They're not moving to John McCain's position. They're moving to Barack Obama's position," Kerry said.

Although he is up for re-election this year, Kerry's senate seat is rated as safe by prominent political observers Stu Rotherberg and Charlie Cook.