Obama goes after McCain fund-raiser

Barack Obama's campaign plans to air a TV ad in the Atlanta area starting Thursday trying to tie John McCain to a Washington lobbying scandal.

"It was one of Washington’s biggest scandals," the announcer says. "And the Republican power broker Ralph Reed was in the middle of it, in deep with convicted felon and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But when the Senate investigated, the senator in charge never even called Reed to testify. And that senator? John McCain.

"And who’s now raising money for McCain’s campaign? Ralph Reed. For 26 years in Washington, John McCain’s played the same old games." (Reed helped promote a fund-raiser for McCain in Atlanta on Monday that brought in $1.75 million, but did not show up at the event.)

The spot ends with what is becoming a tagline for Obama's ads attacking McCain: "We just can’t afford more of the same.”

It is part of what our colleagues at the New York Times reported today is Obama's "sustained and hard-hitting" advertising blitz in key states, with targeted ads tarring him as "disconnected from the economic struggles of the middle class."

UPDATE: McCain spokesman Brian Rogers called the ad "ridiculous."

"Because of John McCain, corruption was exposed and people like Jack Abramoff went to jail," Rogers said in a statement.

“However, if Barack Obama wants to have a discussion about truly questionable associations, let’s start with his relationship with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, at whose home Obama’s political career was reportedly launched. Mr. Ayers was a leader of the Weather Underground, a terrorist group responsible for countless bombings against targets including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and numerous police stations, courthouses and banks. In recent years, Mr. Ayers has stated, ‘I don’t regret setting bombs … I feel we didn’t do enough.’ “The question now is, will Barack Obama immediately call on the University of Illinois to release all of the records they are currently withholding to shed further light on Senator Obama’s relationship with this unrepentant terrorist?”