Updated The North Carolina Republican Party is planning to roll out a television advertisement on Monday attacking a pair of Democrats running for governor in the state for endorsing Senator Barack Obama by playing a clip of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, excoriating the United States.

The release of the commercial, which Republican officials said would debut during 6 p.m. newscasts in the state on Monday, injects a potentially divisive racial element into the state’s upcoming Democratic presidential primary on May 6. (Our colleague Elisabeth Bumiller, reporting from the campaign trail, tells us that Senator John McCain denounced the ad this morning. He also just issued a letter urging the head of the state G.O.P. not to broadcast the ad. See Mr. McCain’s comments and text of the letter below.)

The advertisement features a narrator intoning, “For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in his pew, listening to his pastor.”

Then the advertisement cues up the clip that has become infamous at this point of Mr. Wright, who was Mr. Obama’s pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, preaching in 2003 and using an expletive when referring to the United States.





The Wright video excerpt, which played on an endless loop on television and the Internet last month, sparked a firestorm of controversy and eventually prompted Mr. Obama to deliver a major address on the issue of race relations. Mr. Wright was talking in his sermon about the country’s treatment of African-Americans and arguing, instead of singing “God bless America,” they should sing something else.

The North Carolina G.O.P.’s commercial says Bev Perdue, the lieutenant governor, and Richard Moore, the state treasurer — both of whom are seeking the Democratic nomination in North Carolina for governor — and have endorsed Mr. Obama should “know better.”

“He’s too extreme for North Carolina,” the narrator says.

Brent Woodcox, the state party’s communications director, said officials have not yet decided the size of the advertising buy and how long the commercial will run on television. The advertisement also features a request for donations to the party to keep the commercial on the air.

Update: From Ms. Bumiller, who is covering Mr. McCain’s campaign events through rural Kentucky: “There’s no place for that kind of campaigning, the American people don’t want it, period,” Mr. McCain told reporters on his bus this morning. He said he had not seen the ad and hoped that he wouldn’t, but that he had been given a description of it.

“I understand that it moves numbers, negative ads do all that, but that doesn’t mean it’s right,” Mr. McCain said.

Mike Duncan, the chairman of the Republican National Committee who was traveling with Mr. McCain, said that he had left a message with Linda Daves, the chairwoman of the North Carolina Republican party, also asking that the ad not be used.

Mr. McCain’s campaign released a letter he wrote today to Ms. Daves:

From the beginning of this election, I have been committed to running a respectful campaign based upon an honest debate about the great issues confronting America today. I expect all state parties to do so as well. The television advertisement you are planning to air degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with the Democrats. In the strongest terms, I implore you to not run this advertisement. This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign. We need to run a campaign that is worthy of the people we seek to serve. There is no doubt that we will draw sharp contrasts with the Democrats on fundamental issues critical to the future course of our country. But we need not engage in political tactics that only seek to divide the American people. Once again, it is imperative that you withdraw this offensive advertisement.

Afternoon update: Despite the requests from Mr. McCain and the R.N.C., Mr. Wilcox reiterated the party’s plans to broadcast the commercial.