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Obama campaign cites GOP gov's ties to Ayers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

October 8, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Barack Obama's campaign is citing University of South Carolina speaking invitations to William Ayers and Republican Gov. Mark Sanford's role as university trustee to counter GOP efforts to link the presidential candidate to the 1960s radical.

The governor dismissed the effort as "totally bogus" and said he never heard of Ayers.

McCain running mate Sarah Palin has said Obama was "palling around with terrorists" and referred to Ayers, an education professor. Ayers helped found the Weather Underground group, blamed for several bombings when Obama was 8. Obama has denounced Ayers' radical views and activities.

The two men live near each other in Chicago, and once worked on the same charity board. Ayers hosted a small, meet-the-candidate event for Obama in 1995, at the start of his political career, but multiple accounts have said they are not close.

In an e-mail to reporters, the Obama campaign said Ayers is a "distinguished scholar" at the University of South Carolina, where Sanford serves as the ex-officio trustee while governor.

"By Governor Palin's standards, that means Governor Sanford shares Ayers' views," the e-mail read.

Sanford responded yesterday: "This is a totally bogus story. I've never even heard of the guy" until this weekend. "This is a guy I don't know, I've never met."

The campaign said the connection in both cases is tenuous. "The point is that, by Sarah Palin's logic, serving on a board with someone establishes an association with them," said campaign spokeswoman Melanie Roussell. "If her logic is to stand, it could be said that Gov. Sanford has been palling around with William Ayers," she continued.

Ayers has spoken six times over the last 13 years at the University of South Carolina's Museum of Education, but he has "no ongoing connection or relationship with the university," said school spokesman Russ McKinney Jr.

He said Ayers sometimes received travel reimbursements or a stipend for the events sponsored by the university's school of education.

Separately yesterday, it emerged that Obama has raised about $3.3 million from contributors who did not list a home state or who designated their state with an abbreviation that did not match one of the 50 states or U.S. territories, according to records provided by the Federal Election Commission.

Most of those contributors identify themselves as living abroad. Foreigners cannot make political contributions, but U.S. citizens living abroad can. The Republican National Committee filed a complaint Monday with the Federal Election Commission, seeking a probe of Obama's foreign contributions, among other things. On Monday the FEC provided The Associated Press with a spreadsheet of potential overseas donors that did not include contributors who left their state designation blank.

John McCain's campaign lists all his donors on his Web site.