Obama cries foul over pro-Clinton group

Barack Obama's campaign filed a formal complaint today over a pro-Hillary Clinton advocacy group, one of the growing number of quasi-independent groups that are getting involved in the presidential race.

The American Leadership Project's leadership is comprised of Clinton allies and its major funding comes from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union that has endorsed Clinton.

On Tuesday, it began airing a TV ad in Indiana going after Obama's economic plan. Obama's campaign says that ad is misleading and lodged a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. The complaint says that the group should have to register as a political committee, disclose contributors, and abide by contribution limits.

"From its inception, ALP has made clear that its objective is to help Hillary Clinton win the Democratic nomination for president," Obama campaign lawyers write in the complaint. "....Notably, ALP has run advertisements only in connection with upcoming Democratic primaries; its advertisements mention only Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton."

The American Leadership Project is a so-called 527 group, referring to a section of the tax code, that aren't under the same fund-raising restrictions as campaigns, can air issue-based ads, but aren't supposed to coordinate with a candidate. Obama has also been assisted by the loosely-regulated groups, which are expected to spend millions this election.

UPDATE: Blair Latoff, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, responded: "It appears Barack Obama is all too eager to allow his supporters to launch attacks but suddenly is uncomfortable when the focus switches to him. Decrying an independent group that supports Senator Clinton while saying nothing of the outrageous attacks by the SEIU or MoveOn.org on John McCain is precisely the brand of political opportunism that Americans want removed from the process."