McCain camp hits hard tying Obama to Ayers
(CNN) -- With just 26 days left until the election, Sen. John McCain's campaign is staying true to its pledge to ratchet up the attacks on Sen. Barack Obama's judgment and character.
The McCain campaign says Barack Obama is "too risky for America," in its new Web ad.
The McCain campaign calls Obama "too risky for America" in a new Web ad that focuses on his political relationship with Bill Ayers, a founding member of the radical Weather Underground.
"Barack Obama and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Friends. They've worked together for years. But Obama tries to hide it," the announcer says in the 90-second ad.
"But Obama's friendship with terrorist Ayers isn't the issue. The issue is Barack Obama's judgment and candor," the announcer says.
Weather Underground was involved in bombings in the early 1970s, including attacks on the Pentagon and the Capitol. Obama was a young child at the time of the bombings.
Obama and Ayers, now a university professor, met in 1995, when both worked with a nonprofit group trying to raise funds for a school improvement project and a charitable foundation. CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved. Fact check: How close are Obama and Ayers?
Quoted in The New York Times, Obama called Ayers "somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8."
Michelle Obama brushed off the latest round of attacks in an interview with CNN's Larry King on Wednesday.
"I don't know anyone in Chicago who's heavily involved in education policy who doesn't know Bill Ayers. But, again, I go back to the point that the American people aren't asking these questions," she said.
"The thing that I just encourage people is to judge Barack and judge all of these candidates based on what they do, their actions, their character, what they do in their lives, rather than what somebody did when they were 8 or 6 years old," she said.
The McCain campaign started pushing hard on the Ayers connection this past weekend when Gov. Sarah Palin accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."
The Obama campaign retaliated on Monday with a 13-minute documentary Web video detailing the Arizona senator's involvement in the Keating Five scandal in the 1980s.
Cindy McCain, McCain's wife, lashed out at Obama earlier this week, telling a Tennessee newspaper that the Illinois senator has waged the "dirtiest campaign in American history."
Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden put the blame on the McCain campaign Wednesday, saying the attacks on Obama are "beyond disappointing."
"Those attacks don't hurt Barack Obama or me. They hurt you," Biden told a crowd in Tampa, Florida.
"Every single false charge and baseless accusation is an attempt to get you to stop paying attention to what's going on in this country. Beyond the attacks, what is John McCain really offering?"
Biden said McCain's campaign has become "erratic" and is "relying on political stunts instead of offering real solutions."
Obama said Wednesday, "I can take four more weeks of John McCain's attacks, but America can't take four more years of John McCain's Bush policies."
Obama on Thursday is campaigning in Ohio, where he will focus on jobs and the economy. The Democratic presidential candidate is expected to continue to question McCain's suggestion that the government could buy up bad mortgages. Read more on McCain's proposal
Biden is in Missouri, where he will discuss the choice in the election on the economy.
McCain and Palin are taking their campaign to Wisconsin for a town hall meeting with voters.
