By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Sarah Palin defended her claim that Barack
Obama "pals around with terrorists," saying the Democratic
presidential nominee's association with a 1960s radical is an issue
that is "fair to talk about."
Obama has denounced the radical views and actions of Bill Ayers,
a founder of the violent Weather Underground group during the
Vietnam era. On Sunday, Obama dismissed the criticism from the
McCain campaign, leveled by Palin, as "smears" meant to distract
voters from real problems such as the troubled economy.
Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, launched the
attack Saturday and repeated it twice Sunday, signaling a new
strategy by John McCain's presidential campaign to go after Obama's
character.
"The comments are about an association that has been known but
hasn't been talked about," Palin said as she boarded her plane in
Long Beach, Calif. "I think it's fair to talk about where Barack
Obama kicked off his political career, in the guy's living room."
Later, at an Omaha rally, Palin elaborated on her attack,
claiming one of Obama's advisers had described Obama and Ayers as
"friendly."
"In fact, Obama held one of his first meetings hoping to kick
off his political career in Bill Ayers' living room," she told the
crowd, which had just raised $2.5 million for the Republican
party's McCain-Palin Victory 2008 fund.
At issue is Obama's association with Ayers. Both have served on
the same Chicago charity and live near each other in Chicago. Ayers
also held a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when
Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s, the event cited by
Palin.
In February, Obama strategist David Axelrod told the Politico
Web site: "Bill Ayers lives in his neighborhood. Their kids attend
the same school. They're certainly friendly, they know each other,
as anyone whose kids go to school together."
But while Ayers and Obama are acquainted, the charge that they
"pal around" is a stretch of any reading of the public record.
And it's simply wrong to suggest that they were associated while
Ayers was committing terrorist acts. Obama was 8 years old at the
time the Weather Underground claimed credit for numerous bombings
and was blamed for a pipe bomb that killed a San Francisco
policeman.
At a rally in North Carolina, Obama countered that McCain and
his campaign "are gambling that he can distract you with smears
rather than talk to you about substance." The Democrat described
the criticism as "Swiftboat-style attacks on me," a reference to
the unsubstantiated allegations about 2004 Democratic nominee John
Kerry's decorated military record in Vietnam.
During her stop in California, Palin was asked about an
Associated Press analysis that said her charge about Ayers was
unsubstantiated, a point made by other news organizations, and the
criticism carried a "racially tinged subtext that McCain may come
to regret."
"The Associated Press is wrong," Palin said, before arguing
that the issue had not been adequately discussed.
In fact, Obama was questioned about Ayers during a prime-time
Democratic debate against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton prior to
April's Pennsylvania primary. And McCain himself raised Ayers as a
subject during an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in
April.
Palin, re-energized after last week's debate against Democratic
vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, is animating the party's
conservative wing with harsh attacks against Obama. She's courting
high-dollar donors for campaign cash. And she is looking to wrestle
away women and independent voters from the Democrats.
"The heels are on, the gloves are off," she declares, a threat
delivered with a smile.
With that message, the campaign is sending her on a whirlwind
tour of political trouble spots.
She was dispatched to Omaha on Sunday, a defensive move in one
of the two states in the nation that can split their electoral
votes. Her visit illustrated the depth of worry within the McCain
camp. Since 1964, all five of the state's electoral votes have gone
to the Republican presidential candidate. She denied being worried
about the state, saying, "No, I'm going to Nebraska because I want
to go to Nebraska."
On Monday, she begins a two-day, event-packed tour of Florida
that stretches from Naples in the South to Pensacola in the
panhandle. North Carolina and Pennsylvania are next.
Skilled with a crowd, she is still subject to slips.
In California, for instance, she seemed to lose her train of
thought while discussing U.S. troop efforts in Afghanistan and
referred to the country as "our neighboring country of
Afghanistan."
"It was a mistake, a slip-up," said her spokeswoman, Tracey
Schmitt.
She has fended off some criticism with humor. "People say that
I speak too simply, or don't have quite the - I don't have my
thesaurus in my back pocket all along through my speeches," she
said over the weekend. "Well, I don't have time for that."
On Sunday she added a new line to her repertoire, joking that
her missteps were meant to help her spot-on "Saturday Night Live"
impersonator.
"I was trying to give Tina Fey more material," she said at the
Omaha rally. "Job security for 'Saturday Night Live."'

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)