Reed Reality

Summary
An Obama ad in Georgia ties McCain to former Christian Coalition executive Ralph Reed and the Abramoff lobbying scandal. It doesn't give a full picture.

The ad says that Reed "is now raising money for McCain's campaign." But McCain has said, "I neither seek nor want his support."

It says McCain, as a committee chairman, "never even called Reed to testify" about Abramoff, which is true. But McCain's public report embarrassed Reed and damaged him politically nonetheless.

Analysis
Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign released a new ad Aug. 20 attacking Sen. John McCain for supposed ties to former Christian Coalition executive Ralph Reed, whose reputation was tarnished by his involvement with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The ad is running in Georgia, where Reed lost a bid for state office in 2006 in part because of unfavorable publicity over his Abramoff ties.

Obama for America Ad: "Never"
Narrator: It was one of Washington's biggest scandals. And the Republican power broker Ralph Reed was in the middle of it. In deep with convicted felon and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

But when the Senate investigated, the senator in charge never even called Reed to testify.

And that senator? John McCain. And who's now raising money for McCain's campaign? Ralph Reed. For 26 years in Washington, John McCain's played the same old games. We just can't afford more of the same."

Reed's Fundraising
The ad says that Reed is "now raising money for McCain's campaign." That is true. The Hill newspaper reported that Reed sent out an e-mail to friends and associates urging them to contribute to McCain's campaign and attend a fundraiser for him. But there isn't any formal connection between McCain's campaign and Reed's activities. McCain flatly told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that, "I neither seek nor want his support." Reed appears to have gotten the message. He didn't even appear at the fundraiser he told friends to attend.

The Abramoff Hearings
The ad calls Reed a "power broker" who was "in the middle" of "one of Washington's biggest scandals," the Jack Abramoff affair. And it says that McCain, as chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, "never even called Reed to testify" in the Abramoff investigation.

That's all true, but what's not said is that McCain's report caused Reed political embarrassment, making public evidence that contradicted Reed's claim that he hadn't known that his lobbying activities among anti-gambling Christian activists had been paid for by casino-owning Indian tribes who wanted to suppress competition.

McCain's Committee on Indian Affairs held a series of three "Tribal Lobbying" hearings in 2005 on Abramoff's lobbying for tribes with gaming interests. The result of those hearings was a damning 373-page report.