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GOP Official: Wright Will Not Be Used In Ads
Posted by Russell Berman
Wed, 23 Apr 2008 at 12:29 PM
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With a rebuke of state party officials for using Senator Obama's former pastor in a television ad, the Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign are beginning to define what will be fair game in a general election match-up with the Illinois senator.
A Republican official involved in party strategy told The New York Sun this morning that the party does not expect to use Rev. Wright in ads against Mr. Obama this fall if he wins the Democratic nomination. "I don't foresee a case where we would be using that," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy.
Whether that prohibition would also extend to a former member of the Weather Underground, William Ayers, who has been linked to Mr. Obama, is another question.
While Mr. McCain has largely stayed away from commenting on Rev. Wright, he criticized Mr. Obama over his association with Mr. Ayers, who hosted an event for Mr. Obama and donated to his campaign for the state Senate in Illinois. Mr. McCain called Mr. Ayers "an unrepentant terrorist."
The issue has come up after the North Carolina Republican Party released an ad this morning that shows clips of the former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and says that Mr. Obama is "too extreme" for voters in the state. The ad is aimed at undercutting two Democratic gubernatorial candidates by tying them to Mr. Obama and Rev. Wright.
The McCain campaign just released a letter from the Arizona senator to the chairwoman of the state GOP, Linda Daves, in which he urges her not to run what he calls an "offensive" ad. "The television advertisement you are planning to air degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with the Democrats," Mr. McCain writes. "In the strongest terms, I implore you to not run this advertisement."
A spokesman for Mr. McCain would not comment on the campaign's plans for general election advertising beyond the candidate's words in the letter.
The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Robert Duncan, also contacted Ms. Daves this morning with the same message.
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