This is not an attack ad. This is fact. And the situation becomes really very difficult for the Republicans if Chuck Hagel is the running mate. McCain could have Lieberman if he wants to.
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Republican ex-colleague asks Obama not to run ad
By Rick Pearson
Tribune reporter
As Sen. John McCain steps up his criticism that Democratic presidential rival Sen. Barack Obama's talk of bipartisanship is hollow rhetoric, the presumptive Republican nominee finds one of his convention delegates in the cross-hairs of the debate—Illinois state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale).
The suburban Republican, a former GOP county chairman, appeared in a TV ad for his friend and one-time colleague in the Illinois legislature attesting to the Democrat's willingness to cross the political aisle. The ad was run by Obama campaign throughout the extended primary campaign.
But Dillard, elected on Feb. 5 as a convention delegate for McCain, has asked Obama's top political strategist, David Axelrod, not to use the TV ad for the general election campaign, now that the battle for the presidency is down to a one-on-one partisan contest. Dillard sent a letter to Axelrod at a request of the McCain campaign. Obama campaign aides said they would honor Dillard's request.
The ad, which began airing before Iowa's caucuses in January and was used in later contests, showed Dillard saying that Obama "worked on the deepest issues we had and was successful in a bipartisan way." In the ad, Dillard also said, "Republican legislators respected Sen. Obama. His negotiation skills and an ability to understand both sides would serve the country very well."
Dillard also took part in an early Obama campaign conference call with reporters and discussed the hours he worked with the Democrat in a bipartisan way on issues such as ethics and death penalty reform. But Dillard's involvement with the Obama campaign rankled some Illinois Republicans as inappropriate for a former DuPage County GOP chairman and former member of the Republican State Central Committee.
"In campaigns of any kind, people will want to twist and distort individuals' records. But I owe it to the American public and my friend, Sen. Obama, to tell the truth, for better or for worse, [about] what were the early years of his elected life in Springfield," Dillard said recently. "In many ways, because he is the first African-American to have a realistic chance of being the president, I owe it to everyone to not be partisan in my reflections upon what was Sen. Obama's record in a city in which Abraham Lincoln lived."
As McCain heads to Chicago on Wednesday for a fundraising event, Dillard's comments on behalf of Obama contrast sharply with the Arizona senator's increased criticisms of the Democratic contender.At a San Antonio fundraiser on Tuesday, McCain contended Obama "had the most extreme voting record of any senator" in Washington, who "voted down the line liberal Democrat."
"When you look at the fact that he has the most extreme voting record, people who have extreme voting records are not generally known for their bipartisan work," the Republican contender said.
But the Obama campaign points to examples in the U.S. Senate of Obama working with Republicans on measures regarding nuclear proliferation, energy efficient vehicles, federal budget and earmark transparency and improved medical care for the military. At the same time, the Obama campaign maintains that McCain has gone from a reputation as a "maverick to dependable party vote" for Senate Republicans.
The efforts by McCain and Obama to score points on bipartisanship reflect the need of both candidates to appeal to independent voters to win the White House. While McCain has in the past won support from independents because of a reputation to buck the GOP, Obama's victory in the primaries also displayed an ability to attract independent voters.
With the general election campaign moving forward, Dillard said he is not retracting his comments about Obama's bipartisanship in the state legislature.
"In Illinois, while [Obama] was a liberal partisan Democrat, he would at least have dialogue with Republicans—sometimes on contentious issues like the death penalty or ethics. His record is what it is," Dillard said Tuesday.
"If [voters] want a bipartisan president, John McCain is bipartisan. He's proven that. That's part of his problem with the right wing. They think he's too bipartisan. And just because Obama works with Republicans doesn't mean he carries Republican principles. He is to the left, both in Springfield and in Washington, of his own political party," Dillard said.
Dillard said he sent a letter to Axelrod on May 31 at the request of McCain's campaign, asking that the ad no longer run. Dillard also said he spoke with Axelrod by phone on June 3, the night Obama clinched the required number of convention delegates, to congratulate the campaign and also ask that the ad be pulled.
"If I were in the Obama campaign, I'd be worried that Sen. McCain and his folks would continue to remind people that even though Kirk Dillard admires Sen. Obama and knows him first hand, he is for John McCain, not Barack Obama, for president," Dillard said.
Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, said the Democratic presidential campaign would no longer use the Dillard ad footage.
"Sen. Obama appreciates that Sen. Dillard worked with him in a bipartisan way in the Illinois legislature to take on the special interests and pass campaign finance and ethics reform, but Obama understands that Sen. Dillard feels obligated to support his party's nominee," LaBolt wrote in an e-mail.
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