McCain Ad: Obama Camp Trying To "Destroy" Palin

The McCain campaign has released a new television ad, "Fact Check," that suggests the Obama campaign is trying to "destroy" Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. No word on how often the ad will run or where; the McCain camp will say only that it is running in "key states."

"The attacks on Governor Palin have been called 'completely false'...'misleading,'" an announcer says as the spot opens. "And, they've just begun. The Journal reports Obama 'air-dropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers' into Alaska to dig dirt on Governor Palin. As Obama drops in the polls, he'll try to destroy her. Obama's 'politics of hope'? Empty words."

As CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder reported yesterday, Mike Gehrke, the DNC's research chief, denies that Democrats have deployed a "mini-army" to Alaska to dig up dirt on Palin.

"Not a single person from DC or Chicago has traveled to Alaska to do research," Gahrke wrote, saying that no Obama or DNC staffer (or hired gun) has made the trip.

He called the paragraph in the Journal report containing the claim featured in the McCain ad a "flat-out absolute fabrication," adding, "we have sent absolutely zero people."