Webcast News Service, 6 October 2008

Republicans are trying to change the focus of the U.S. presidential race between their candidate, Senator John McCain, and the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama. A new wave of Republican attacks now target Senator Obama's background and raise questions as to whether he is fit to be president.

Senator McCain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, stepped up the attacks Monday during a campaign rally in Florida.

Palin highlighted Obama's past links with a former 1960s radical, Bill Ayers, who was part of the so-called Weather Underground that set off bombs in government buildings to protest the Vietnam War.

"His own top adviser said that they were, quote, certainly friendly," she said. "In fact, Obama held one of his first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayer's living room. I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America, as the greatest source for good in this world."

Ayers is now a college professor who lives in Obama's neighborhood in Chicago. Ayers served with Obama on two charity boards and hosted a reception for him in 1995.

Forty years ago, Ayers helped found the Weather Underground, a left-wing terrorist group opposed to the Vietnam War. In 1969, Ayers participated in planting a bomb at a statue dedicated to police casualties in the 1886 Haymarket Riot. The blast broke almost 100 windows and blew pieces of the statue onto the nearby Kennedy Expressway. Ayers later participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, the United States Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972.

Ayers became a fugitive in 1970 after an explosion at a Greenwich Village townhouse, in which Weatherman member Ted Gold, Ayers' close friend Terry Robbins, and Ayers' girlfriend, Diana Oughton, were killed when a nail bomb (an anti-personnel device) they were assembling exploded. Ayers was a fugitive until 1980 when he turned himself in. Charges were later dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct.

In an interview published in 2001 in the New York Times on the same day as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ayers was quoted as saying "I don't regret setting bombs" and "I feel we didn't do enough." When asked if he would "do it all again," he replied, "I don't want to discount the possibility."

In the 1990's Obama and Ayers served together on a Chicago schools project and on a charitable board. In 1995, Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, hosted a "meet-and-greet" fundraiser for Obama at their home in the Hyde Park section of Chicago, where the Ayers and the Obamas lived. It was at this meeting that then-Illinois State Senator Alice Palmer introduced Barack Obama as her chosen candidate for the 1996 Democratic primary. Obama was elected to replace Palmer, beginning his political career.

During a campaign stop in North Carolina, Obama accused the McCain campaign of trying a new tactic in order to avoid talking about the weakened U.S. economy, which the polls suggest is the top issue for voters this year.

Senator McCain's next best opportunity to change the focus of the campaign comes Tuesday when he and Senator Obama meet for their second presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tuesday's debate will feature a town hall format where members of the audience will ask questions, a format that Senator McCain prefers.

Obama and McCain will take part in one last debate on October 15 at Hofstra University in New York. The election is November 4.