McCain Campaign Is at Odds Over Negative Attacks' Scope

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OCTOBER 10, 2008

McCain Campaign Is at Odds Over Negative Attacks' Scope
Senator Says Faith Issue Puts Obama's Former Pastor off Limits
By MONICA LANGLEY and ELIZABETH HOLMES
The Wall St. Journal

Top McCain campaign officials are grappling with how far to go with negative attacks on Sen. Barack Obama in the final weeks of what is turning into a come-from-behind effort. Sen. John McCain has allowed a series of increasingly harsh broadsides in new campaign ads and in speeches by his wife, Cindy, and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin. But the Arizona Republican has rejected pleas from some advisers to launch attacks focusing on Sen. Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Some McCain campaign officials are becoming concerned about the hostility that attacks against Sen. Obama are whipping up among Republican supporters. During an internal conference call Thursday, campaign officials discussed how the tenor of the crowds has turned on the media and on Sen. Obama. Someone yelled "Off with his head" at a rally Wednesday for Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin in Pennsylvania. Later that day in Ohio, a man stood outside a rally holding a sign that said "Obama, Osama." At a rally in Jacksonville, Fla., on Tuesday, someone in the crowd wore a T-shirt depicting Sen. Obama wearing a devil mask.

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The McCain campaign's decision to go on the offensive came after a high-level, all-day meeting last Friday in Phoenix. Top advisers agreed they would stick with that decision in an effort to regain ground. Some in the McCain camp are concerned that time is growing short. "The economic times are the reason our numbers are down," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Sen. McCain's best friends. "I want John to have a positive approach to solving America's problems, but John has to show that there's nothing mainstream about Sen. Obama."

The McCain campaign released a new video attacking Sen. Obama for his contacts with Williams Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, a radical group tied to bombings during the Vietnam War era. Mr. Ayers is now a professor and a figure in mainstream Chicago politics. But Sen. McCain vetoed proposals to attack the Illinois senator for his 20 years as a member of the church led by Rev. Wright, whose harsh comments about racism in America and other issues created problems for Sen. Obama during the Democratic primary contest. Sen. Obama publicly severed ties with Rev. Wright earlier this year. Sen. McCain has said Rev. Wright is off limits. That decision, and the worry that the campaign could open itself to accusations of racism, has kept Rev. Wright out of their strategy. One McCain senior adviser said the difference between Mr. Ayers and Rev. Wright isn't race, it's religion. "It's not appropriate to attack someone's faith," he said.

Some longtime Republicans are befuddled by the decision not to go after Rev. Wright. "If you're going to go down with Ayers, you might as well go with Wright too," said Ed Rollins, a longtime Republican strategist and former Reagan White House aide who ran Mike Huckabee's campaign during the primary. Mr. Rollins said that, although accusations of racism would undoubtedly arise, Sen. Obama's longtime connection with Rev. Wright made the relationship fair game.

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