A newly formed conservative political group is spending $2.8 million to air the first tough general election ad attacking Barack Obama, questioning his relationship with a founder of the 1960s terrorist group Weather Underground.
Obama's aides denounced the spot, calling it illegal. They likened it to the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault on John Kerry's military service, which some Democrats believe cost Kerry the election, and charged that Republican John McCain was behind it.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, August 23, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 48 words Type of Material: Correction
Anti-Obama ad: An article in Friday's Section A about a political ad attacking Barack Obama for his ties to William Ayers said that Ayers teaches at the University of Chicago. Ayers, a founder of the radical Weather Underground, is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
In fact, Christian Pinkston, a Washington-area consultant who serves as spokesman for the new nonprofit group, American Issues Project, worked on the Swift Boat campaign.
American Issues Project is a nonprofit political organization that is required to operate independently of the campaign.
Edward Failor Jr., a member of the American Issues board, is an Iowa political operative who worked for McCain's presidential campaign in the state. Failor oversaw President Bush's Iowa campaign four years ago, the first time in 20 years that a Republican carried the state.
"The fact that John McCain dispatched his paid consultant to launch this despicable ad from a so-called independent committee shows how desperate he is to change the subject from his shocking disconnect with the economic struggles of the American people," Obama's campaign said in a statement.
McCain's spokesman denied any involvement and said Failor hadn't worked for the campaign in months.
The 60-second ad opens with Obama giving a speech, then asks how much voters know about the Illinois senator. From there, it bores in on his relationship with University of Chicago education professor William Ayers, who more than 30 years ago was deeply involved in radical leftist politics.
The spot notes that the Sept. 11 hijackers failed to crash one of the hijacked jets into the U.S. Capitol and says that 30 years earlier the Weather Underground detonated a bomb in the Capitol.
"Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it?" the ad asks.
The ad links the bombing to Ayers, who has acknowledged involvement in bombings but was never convicted of terrorist acts.
Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, a Northwestern University professor who also was part of the Weather Underground, spent years on the run. After Ayers surrendered in 1980, charges against him were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct.
