"The Rev. Wright for the Supreme Court?

A group of conservative legal activists doesn't exactly suggest that, but it is releasing an ad featuring Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. and two other controversial figures from Barack Obama's life as part of an effort to bring attention to the issue of Supreme Court nominees and raise questions about the candidate's judgment.

The new ad is paid for by the Judicial Confirmation Network, a group closely associated with the successful confirmations of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

The ad says that the next president could reshape the court because of anticipated departures over the next four years. But instead of talking about the views of either Obama or John McCain, the ad focuses on Obama's ties to Wright, his outspoken former pastor; Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a disgraced real estate developer and campaign fundraiser; and William Ayers, a 1960s radical who is now a professor.

The connection?

"We don't know who Barack Obama would choose, but we know this," the ad says. "He chose as one of his first financial backers a slumlord now convicted on 16 counts of corruption. Obama chose as an associate a man who helped to bomb the Pentagon and said he 'didn't do enough.' And Obama chose as his pastor a man who has blamed America for the 9/11 attacks."

Wendy Long, the general counsel for the Judicial Confirmation Network, said the message showed that Obama associated with those men while voting against confirmation of Roberts and Alito.

"I tried to tie it to the court," Long said. "I hope that worked. It's certainly about the court."

She said it is intended to be just the first phase of a campaign to show the "huge, huge choice" for voters on the issue, because McCain and Obama would make such different appointments to the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

She said the ad would run nationally on Fox, tied to the court's resumption of oral arguments on Monday, and in the battleground states of Ohio and Michigan." (Robert Barnes, The Washington Post, October 3, 2008)