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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, October 5, 2008

Campaign attacks take ugly turn

By John McCormick
Chicago Tribune

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The two presidential campaigns yesterday debated who was more radical as the final full month of the battle opened amid new signs that the fight is turning uglier.

Barack Obama attacked first, calling John McCain's healthcare reform proposal "radical" and "out of touch" as he campaigned in Virginia, a state that has not backed a Democrat for president since 1964.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, meanwhile, accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists," referring to the Illinois senator's ties to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers, as outlined in a weekend New York Times article.

In Colorado, the Alaska governor said she was "interested to read about Barack's friends from Chicago" who would "target their own country."

A founder of the Weather Underground, Ayers is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His group took credit for bombings at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago.

Obama has downplayed links to Ayers, with whom he worked in the 1990s on a school reform initiative that Obama chaired and Ayers co-founded.

"Gov. Palin's comments, while offensive, are not surprising, given the McCain campaign's statement ... that they would be launching Swift Boat-like attacks in hopes of deflecting attention from the nation's economic ills," Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said in a statement.

"The very newspaper story Gov. Palin cited in hurling her shameless attack made clear that Sen. Obama is not close to Bill Ayers, much less 'pals,' " the statement continued. "He has strongly condemned the despicable acts Ayers committed 40 years ago, when Obama was 8."

Obama specifically focused on McCain's proposal to tax healthcare benefits that people get from their employers.

Such a tax would be new, but McCain would also offer tax credits of $2,500 ($5,000 for families) to help pay for insurance coverage.

"But like those ads for prescription drugs, you've got to read the fine print to learn the rest of the story," he told an audience near the banks of the James River.

McCain, meanwhile, spent time yesterday at a resort in Sedona, Ariz., in his home state, preparing for Tuesday's presidential debate in Nashville, Tenn.

Obama settled into his own debate camp in Asheville, N.C., where he is expected to periodically venture out from the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa to make appearances in another traditionally red state he is trying hard to convert to the Democratic column.

Six times using phrases that included "ain't right," Obama yesterday criticized McCain's healthcare proposal and said it would result in younger, healthier workers deciding to opt out of insurance plans, further driving up the costs for others.

It was the first time he has addressed healthcare in any major way during the general election campaign. The topic was one that he and Sen. Hillary Clinton constantly bickered about during the primary season.

The Democratic and Republican nominees would use significantly different approaches to try to address coverage for an estimated 45 million Americans — about 15 percent of the population — who have no health insurance.