McCain Attacks Obama’s Ties to Felon Tony Rezko

By Pamela Mortimer

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain is trying a new tactic with his latest ad campaign – guilt by association. The new ad, referred to as the "Chicago Machine", was released on Monday and links Democrat Barack Obama to convicted felon Tony Rezko. The spot also links the Illinois senator to three other well publicized political figures -Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich – all of whom allegedly had ties to questionable associates and "political power brokers."

The ad clearly states that Obama is "born of the corrupt Chicago political machine," and then goes on to refer to Jones as Obama’s "political godfather" and Rezko his "money man."

The McCain camp says that Jones and Blagojevich are "under an ethics cloud," due to investigations regarding nepotism and rumors that the men have handed out political favors to contributors. McCain’s beef with Daley has to do with favoritism regarding his relationship with his brother, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. Daley surely doesn’t gain any points for his former status as a former Fannie Mae lobbyist.

The Obama camp has rebutted that ad, saying that the Illinois senator is "the true maverick" regarding ethics reform.

"It’s no coincidence that on the very day newspapers reported that John McCain’s campaign manager was paid $2 million to lobby against tighter regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the McCain campaign would launch this false, gratuitous attack," said spokesman Bill Burton.

"Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate as an independent Democrat. He took on the Chicago Democratic organization in a primary to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. And in both Illinois and Washington, he has challenged the Old Guard for landmark ethics reforms," Burton said.

McCain campaign advisers say that the ad is payback for a Spanish language ad released by the Obama camp tying McCain to Rush Limbaugh regarding the immigration issue.

Many are still speculating about Obama’s ties to controversial former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Weather Underground co-founder Bill Ayers. Earlier this year, Obama referred to Wright as a "legitimate political issue." McCain’s advisers claim that the topic of Obama’s associations with these people is not off limits and may be addressed in the 43 days before the November 4th presidential election.