All Blog Posts from Horserace

The McCain campaign has released a new ad, "Education," that suggests Barack Obama favors teaching sex education to kindergartners. A McCain aide tells CBS News the ad will air on Fox News and in select markets in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

"Education Week says Obama 'hasn't made a significant mark on education,'" an announcer says as the spot opens. "That he's 'elusive' on accountability. A 'staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly.'"

The announcer continues: "Obama's one accomplishment? Legislation to teach 'comprehensive sex education' to kindergartners. Learning about sex before learning to read? Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for your family."

Campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs told CBS News the legislation Obama supported provided information to children on what to watch for when with an adult they don't know, such as inappropriate advances or touching.

“It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls – a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. "Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn’t define what honor was. Now we know why."

In a new ad out today, the Obama campaign hits John McCain on education, accusing the Arizona senator of cutting funding and supporting the abolishment of the Department of Education. Obama is speaking about his education plan in Ohio this morning. Not mentioned in the ad – GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin. The ad opens with pictures of school children. Text:

“When they grow up, will the economy be strong enough? Barack Obama understands what it takes to make America number one in education again. John McCain doesn’t understand. John McCain voted to cut education funding, against accountability standards. He even proposed abolishing the Department of Education. And John McCain’s economic plan gives two hundred billion more to special interests while taking money away from public schools. We can’t afford more of the same.” Watch it:

From CBS News' Ryan Corsaro, on the trail with the Rudy Giuliani campaign:

Campaigning in Greensboro, N.C., Monday, Rudy Giuliani animatedly attacked the legitimacy of today's education system, saying government bureaucrats telling parents where to educate their children is the main reason behind the deterioration of K-12 education in America.

"What the heck are we doing?" Giuliani asked as he spoke with several hundred members of North Carolina Women for Rudy. "Don't you think it's the biggest civil rights issue we face?"

Giuliani said allowing parents the same degree of choice for K-12 education that they have when it comes to picking a college would cause underperforming schools to close, with those left standing improving as they competed to bring students into their classrooms. “If we want to change K through 12 in America, we do school choice, we do vouchers, we offer it as an option," he said.

Giuliani received cheers when he summed up his view of the best way to judge schools.

“All this discussion about standards in schools getting measured in Washington, and getting measured in the state capital, and getting measured by a school board," he said. "Who the heck can measure the standards in schools better than the parents selecting the schools? Isn’t the best answer that a school is a good school that lots of parents think, 'We want our child to get into this school.'"

The former New York mayor will spend the rest of Monday at private fundraisers in North Carolina, and resurfaces for public events in Florida on Thursday.