McCain’s campaign unveiled a new 30-second TV ad called “Chicago Machine,” drawing links between Obama and Bill Daley, the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley; Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a former Obama fundraiser and a top fundraiser and adviser for Blagojevich who was convicted on federal corruption charges in June; Senate President Emil Jones, Obama’s mentor in the state Senate; and Blagojevich, whose administration is under myriad federal investigations.

But Monday, Republican presidential contender John McCain tried to link Obama to the embattled Blagojevich in an effort to tarnish the Democratic presidential contender by noting his connections to controversial Chicago politicians.

Last week, Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich warned home-state presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama was falling into a Republican trap by siding against the governor’s rewrite of a state ethics reform bill. It was a move that prompted critics to question whether Blagojevich was trying to place his own self importance above Obama.

You can see the commercial on The Swamp.

“Barack Obama,” an announcer intones, “born of the corrupt Chicago political machine.”

The ad quotes Obama saying, “In terms of my toughness, look first of all, I come from Chicago.”

Then the announcer continues:

“His economic adviser, William Daley. Lobbyist. Mayor's brother.

His money man, Tony Rezko. Client. Patron. Convicted Felon.

His "political godfather." Emil Jones. Under ethical cloud.

His governor, Rod Blagojevich. A legacy of federal and state investigations.

With friends like that, Obama is not ready to lead.”

During a conference call with reporters, Steve Schmidt, a top McCain strategist, said the TV ad was a “real buy” that would air nationally and “will air across the depth and breadth of the battleground states.” Schmidt also belittled the media for not providing a “symmetry” to their probing of Obama’s background compared to the scrubbing that the team of McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has received.



Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, said the ad was “some level of response” to the increasing negative tenor of an Obama campaign that has labeled the Republicans’ efforts as full of lies and distortions. He also said the ad was an attempt to educate voters.



“It focuses on the relationship between Barack Obama and some of his friends from Chicago--Bill Daley, Tony Rezko, Emil Jones and the governor,” Davis said. “It, I think, adequately points out that these people play important roles in his political future and past and should be subject to the same kind of scrutiny that Barack Obama has tried to promote on our side.”

Asked what Obama’s association was with Blagojevich, Schmidt said, “they obviously have a close relationship,” though the McCain aide never elaborated.

Obama, however, has never held what Springfield watchers could describe as a particularly close relationship with the governor. As a presidential candidate, Obama went out of his way at the recent Democratic National Convention to feature potential third-term challengers to Blagojevich.

“He’s someone who is under investigation. He comes out of a corrupt machine,” Schmidt said of Blagojevich.

“Sen. Obama very directly has introduced the issue of associations in this campaign,” he said. “I think (Obama has been) raising fundamentally, that you can tell something about people by the company they keep, and that’s a debate we look forward to having over the next 43 days of the campaign as we focus on these questions and what it says about each man as the American people get ready to make their decision to who to elect to be the 44th president of the United States.”

Republicans in Illinois have been pointing out the dysfunction that has exists in state government and politics under Democrats’ one-party rule of the governor’s office and the state legislature. But Obama’s links to Blagojevich are tenuous, at best.

Obama last week made a phone call to Jones, Blagojevich’s biggest legislative ally, asking for an expedited vote to override Blagojevich’s changes to a state ethics bill aimed at curbing pay-to-play politics and putting the brakes on the governor’s aggressive fundraising. The bill is expected to be considered Monday and Blagojevich’s changes were largely viewed by opponents as an attempt by the governor to kill the original measure.

Bill Burton, Obama’s spokesman, called the new ad a “false, gratuitous attack” mounted on the same day that reports circulated that Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, had previously been paid $2 million to lobby against tighter regulation of housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate as an independent Democrat,” Burton said. “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.”

Obama did win a heavily contested Democratic primary in 2004 to win the U.S. Senate seat, but taking on the “Chicago Democratic organization” as Burton asserts is pretty strong language. Mayor Richard Daley provided no public support for Obama in a crowded field and another mayoral brother, John Daley, a Cook County commissioner and head of the county board’s powerful finance committee, backed Comptroller Dan Hynes in the race. Hynes is the son of former Cook County assessor and ex-Senate President Tom Hynes.