The New Nation - Internet Edition

BBC Online

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has attacked John McCain's links to a 1980s financial scandal.

He also accused his Republican rival of being more focused on running a smear campaign than on fixing the US economy.

It comes after McCain's running mate Sarah Palin accused Obama over the weekend of associating with terrorists.

Obama once served on a charity board with an ex-member of US-based militant group Weather Underground, Bill Ayers, now a University of Illinois professor.

He has denounced Ayers' radical past.

McCain spent the weekend in Arizona preparing for Tuesday's presidential debate but Mrs Palin, Governor of Alaska, held several rallies.

She told supporters in Colorado and California that the time had come to take "the gloves off" - suggesting that Obama's character may be the subject of further attacks.

In a new internet video being e-mailed to supporters, the Obama campaign launched its own attack on McCain over his connections to tycoon Charles Keating, who was convicted of securities fraud after his savings and loan scheme collapsed.

Senator McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance Barack Obama.

McCain was one of five senators - known as the Keating Five - to be investigated by a Senate ethics panel over their intervention with banking regulators on behalf of Keating.

He was found to be less involved with Keating than the other senators but was criticised for "poor judgement".

McCain has himself described the affair as "the worst mistake of my life", and one which led him to sponsor legislation on campaign finance reform.

In an email to supporters, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said: "The McCain campaign has tried to avoid talking about the scandal, but with so many parallels to the current crisis, McCain's Keating history is relevant and voters deserve to know the facts - and see for themselves the pattern of poor judgement by John McCain.”