(CNN) - The conservative group Judicial Confirmation Network is launching a new television ad in key battleground states Wednesday that in part features Barack Obama's ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the controversial pastor who nearly derailed the Illinois senator's presidential bid last spring.
The independent ad is the first campaign spot in the general election to highlight Obama's lengthy relationship with Wright, a subject that generated considerable media scrutiny during the primary season but one John McCain has said should not be an issue in the race for the White House.
The ad also ties Obama to William Ayers and Tony Rezko - two prominent and controversial figures in Chicago. Ayers, a University of Chicago professor, was a founder of the 1960's radical group Weatherman that claimed responsibility for bombing the Pentagon. Rezko is a real estate developer convicted earlier this year of mail fraud, attempted extortion and money laundering who helped Obama secure a property in Chicago. Both men have been longtime supporters of Obama's political career, but the Illinois senator has said he is not close to either one of them.
Earlier: McCain says Ayers connection 'open to question'
A spokeswoman for the group says more than $500,000 is being spent on the ad, which is set to run in Ohio and Michigan markets through Election Day. It will also run nationally on Fox News during the upcoming debates.
The organization is classified as a 501(c)4, and as such does not have to disclose its donors to the Federal Election Commission. it's the second 501(c)4 to launch an ad attacking Obama Wednesday — Veterans for Freedom, which opposes his position on the war in Iraq, is spending more than $2 million on an ad taking aim at the Illinois senator.
"Choosing the right justices is critical for America," the ad's announcer states. "We don't know who Barack Obama would choose, but we know this: He chose as one of his first financial backers a slumlord now convicted on 16 counts of corruption. Obama chose as an associate a man who helped to bomb the Pentagon and said he ‘didn't do enough.’ And Obama chose as his pastor a man who has blamed America for the 9/11 attacks.
"Obama chose to associate with these men, while voting against these men," the announcer also says, as images of current Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito are shown.
The group, which advocates naming conservative justices to the bench, says the ad is part of a $1 million grassroots campaign to "to raise awareness and recruit activists on the critical issue of the U.S. Supreme Court." The campaign will also include an extensive outreach effort including direct mail, e-mail, and text messaging.
From CNN Politics
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Typical Republican fear-mongering. Not this time. Not in this election. Not with all the troubles the Republicans have given us over the last 8 years....$700,000,000,000 worth.
When the Democrats can digg into Palin's past, sure can the Republicans probe Obama's past. The funny thing is Obama who sat at Rev. Wright's Church, first denied stuff that was going on in the Church and when he started feeln the Heat, Distanced himself from Rev. Wright. Obama is not honest and his relationship with Wright defintely requires scrutiny!
KEATING FIVE........ McCain knows how to help the American financial
system go really broke, he was there not too long ago.
Sarah Palin's pastor is a practical witch-hunter!!( he may excorcise the witch of dull mind off her!!)
So, loosing in the polls ( I mean ALL POLLS) calls for desperation.
McCain and his campaign are DESPERADOS!!!!!!!!!
This is all McCain has left. It is begining to look as though McCain is going to war without any ammo. He needs a witch doctor to help his campaign.
Precdictable in a time of crisis for the McCain campaign, this is there last card they can play. However in such a trying time for our nation, very few voters are going to be concerned about this political nonsense.
Sorry GOP, we are not buying what you are selling.
Stupid is out of style this election season.
This ad shows the real Obama – a common street agitator. The communist left HATES the truth.
Don't believe the polls!
Obama will be TROUNCED on November 4th!!!
McCain/Palin '08 - For the Future of America!
Thank God..................it's about time this ad came out.
Obama is as dirty as they come.
What are you all doing at CNN – maintaining a databse of posters who present a conservative POV, and blocking us from posting? I'm sure this will now get posted. At any rate, in the rare case it does, everyone on the left should be ashamed of themselves for excusing Obama's ties at any length. If McCain had ties to an American hating preacher or domestic terrorist, he never would have made it this far, and you people on the left would have been decrying it, and you know it. You all will stoop to any depth to get the first black man elected on the basis of race. We all know he has ZERO experience, and per his relationships with radicals and poor choice of VP, NO judgment, and has NEVER stood up to his own party – ever.
Get ready for higher taxes, weaker military, and inflation out the wazoo...but hey, it'll be OK because all the rest of the world "will like us" again. Stupid One World Lib-tards.
Not impressed.
There is no such thing as an "Independent Ad."!
Anyone that spends the money and takes the time and trouble to create a so-called independent ad has an agenda a mile long.
The ad isn't honest and neither are the people that made it happen.They are cowards that hide behind the term "Idependent ad" that does their dirty work for them.
Beware, Sen. NObama, your sins WILL find you out!
What about Palin's controversial pastor and her own remarks to her congregation just this year alone? What kind of candidate has a pastor pray over her and make her become the govenor? Is it far right or just far out? Let's have full disclosure on that.
Low blow from the McCain camp.
This issue is dead.
Red Herring!