Kerry Files Attack Ad Complaint

Charges Swift Boat Group Illegally Coordinating With Bush Campaign

(CBS/AP)  The Kerry campaign filed a complaint Friday with the Federal Election Commission alleging that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group behind controversial ads attacking John Kerry's war record, was illegally coordinating its efforts with the Bush-Cheney campaign.

It cited "recent press reports" and the group's own statements. The Bush campaign denied the allegation.

Campaigns often file complaints with the FEC, but the agency rarely intervenes quickly enough to alter the course of a race.

The complaint comes as the Swift Boat group released its second ad, this one criticizing Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned from serving in Vietnam.

The ad, to begin airing next week in Nevada and New Mexico, intersperses clips of a youthful Kerry talking about war atrocities during an appearance before Congress in 1971 with images of veterans condemning his testimony.

The Democratic Party launched its own round of ads Friday to buttress Kerry's credentials to be commander in chief.

In a commercial that officials said was filmed on Thursday, the Democratic Party showed retired Air Force General Merrill A. McPeak saying he had endorsed Mr. Bush four years ago but was backing Kerry now.

"John Kerry has the strength and common sense we need in a commander in chief," says McPeak, a fighter pilot in Vietnam who rose to become Air Force chief of staff during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991.

On Thursday, the Kerry campaign released a campaign commercial that features a former Green Beret saying the young Navy lieutenant saved his life under fire.

Also Thursday, Kerry for the first time rebutted the Swift Boat group's claims that he exaggerated his war record in order to win three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star while in Vietnam. He also accused President Bush of relying on front groups to challenge his record, asserting, "He wants them to do his dirty work."

Despite the fact that a number of media outlets have found Pentagon records that confirm Kerry's version of events, a new CBS News poll shows the anti-Kerry ads may be affecting the campaign. Kerry's support among veterans has dropped since the ads began airing, and the overall race is now essentially tied, with 46 percent of Americans saying they favor Kerry, and 45 percent for the president.

Mr. Bush and the White House have refused to condemn the ads, which are funded by supporters of the president, despite calls to do so — from Sen. John McCain, a Republican who is a former Vietnam prisoner of war, as well as from Democrats.

The Bush campaign has disavowed any connection to the Swift Boat ads and insists it has never questioned Kerry's service in Vietnam, but neither the president nor any of his spokesmen have condemned the ads.

As CBS Radio's Mark Knoller reports, Bush campaign spokesmen Steve Schmidt said it's the Kerry campaign that's operating in "flagrant disregard" of the campaign finance law - by coordinating strategies with private political groups behind many attack ads aimed at Mr. Bush.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday that Kerry's comments showed he had lost his cool.

"I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not be an excuse for him to lash out at the president with false and baseless attacks," the spokesman told reporters in Crawford, Texas.

"We've already said we weren't involved in any way in these ads," he said. "We've made that clear."

Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter fired back, "John Kerry is a fighter and he doesn't tolerate lies from others."

Cutter sought to turn the argument over presidential readiness back on the White House. "Mr. McClellan needs to understand that John Kerry is not the type of leader who will sit and read `My Pet Goat' to a group of second graders while America is under attack," she said.

That was a reference to Sept. 11, 2001, when Mr. Bush remained in an elementary school classroom for several minutes after being informed by an aide that the World Trade Center had been hit.

Asked about the relationship between Bob Perry, a financial supporter of the anti-Kerry group that paid for the ad, and Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, McClellan said, "I mean, they know each other. I know that."

But, he quickly added, "that still shouldn't be used to draw any connection there, because we have not been involved in this ad whatsoever."

McClellan also accused the Kerry campaign of sanctioning the same type of attack ads by outside groups that it is accusing the president of approving.