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Chohan Examines Latest Obama, McCain Attacks

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Aug 22, 2008 10:35 pm US/Mountain

Chohan Examines Latest Obama, McCain Attacks

Reporting
Raj Chohan
DENVER (CBS4) ― There's an interesting school yard fight going on between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. Two competing ads raise the timeless question: Is it better to have homes you can't remember, or friends you can't forget? The first shot in this airwave battle comes from the Obama campaign.

Ad: Maybe you're struggling just to pay the mortgage on your home, but recently, John McCain said the fundamentals of our economy are strong. Then again, when asked the same day how many houses he owns, McCain lost track, he couldn't remember.

The claim is true. During an interview with Politico.com McCain couldn't remember how many homes he owned.

Ad: Well, its seven, seven houses.

Not exactly. It's eight, eight houses. The Obama campaign says McCain's lack of immediate knowledge of his family's real estate holdings proves the Arizona senator is elitist and out of touch. The ad also seems to make a veiled issue of McCain's age.

Ad: And here's one house America can't afford to let John McCain move into (referring to the White House).

Remember that old saying about glass houses. The bait provided John McCain an instant opportunity to put the spotlight on Obama's own housing problem. The McCain campaign promptly returned fire with the following ad.

Ad: Barack Obama knows a lot about housing problems. One of his biggest fundraisers helped him buy his million dollar mansion, purchasing part of the property he couldn't afford.

The claim is true. In 2005 disgraced real estate developer and longtime Obama friend and fundraiser, Tony Rezko, helped Obama purchase a million dollar property on Chicago's south side. On the same day Obama bought the house for $300,000 below market value, Rezko's wife paid full price for the adjacent lot and later sold a piece of it to Obama. At the time, it was widely known that Rezko was under investigation for an unrelated kickback scheme. In hindsight, Obama called his dealing with Rezko a "bone-headed" move.

Ad: from Obama, Rezko got political favors, including $14 million from tax payers.

There is some spin here. The ad implies the "favor" happened after Obama bought the house. In fact, the reverse is true. In 1998, while Obama was in the Illinois senate, he wrote a letter to city and state officials in support of a low-income retirement housing project being developed by Rezko. The $14 million deal involving public tax dollars was approved. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Rezko and his business partner got more than $800,000 in development fees. Both Obama and Rezko insist this was not a political favor, that Obama supported the project on the merits. Either way, it raised some eyebrows.

Ad: now, he's a convicted felon, facing jail

The claim is true. Rezko was convicted in June of numerous felony corruption charges. He will almost certainly be sentenced to time behind bars.

Bottom line: This may have been a miscalculation by Barack Obama. The campaign had hoped to get good mileage out of McCain's recent gaffe. Instead, it appears Obama is back on the defensive. The whole exchange may turn out to be a wash. Let's hope the candidates get back to more pressing policy issues.


(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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