Ayers ad funder linked to anti-Kerry group

Politico is reporting that a Dallas billionaire is solely bankrolling an independent advocacy group that plans to spend nearly $3 million to air ads linking Barack Obama with 1960s radical William Ayers.

Harold Simmons also helped fund Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked the war record of Senator John F. Kerry in 2004.

Simmons is a major donor to Republicans, Politico reported, but also gave money to one interesting Democrat: Congressman Chet Edwards of Texas, who emerged today as a late entry in the Obama veepstakes.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Associated Press is now reporting that the University of Illinois said today it will release records of Obama's service to a nonprofit organization linked to Ayers.

The records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an organization that Obama chaired and that Ayers co-founded, will be made available to the public Tuesday, the university said in a statement.

Ayers' Weatherman group took credit for bombings that included nonfatal blasts at the Pentagon and US Capitol four decades ago.