Team McCain has a new ad out this morning called “Ayers”, a comprehensive attack on Obama on his relationship with former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers.  This isn’t just a suggestive 30-second spot.  It’s one minute and forty seconds that detail the kind of work the two did together, Ayers’ early political partnership, and Obama’s obfuscation of the nature of their political partnership in Chicago:

Barack Obama and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Friends. They’ve worked together for years. But Obama tries to hide it. Why?

Obama launched his political career in Ayers’ living room. Ayers and Obama ran a radical “education” foundation, together. They wrote the foundation’s by-laws, together. Obama was the foundation’s first chairman. Reports say they, “distributed more than $100 million to ideological allies with no discernible improvement in education.”

When their relationship became an issue, Obama just responded, “This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood.” That’s it?

We know Bill Ayers ran the “violent left wing activist group” called Weather Underground. We know Ayers’ wife was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. We know they bombed the Capitol. The Pentagon. A judge’s home. We know Ayers said, “I don’t regret setting bombs. …. I feel we didn’t do enough.”

But Obama’s friendship with terrorist Ayers isn’t the issue. The issue is Barack Obama’s judgment and candor. When Obama just says, “This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” Americans say, “Where’s the truth, Barack?”

Barack Obama. Too risky for America.

The length of the spot would normally indicate that this is intended for web viewing only. However, John McCain gives the standard broadcast endorsement at the end, which strongly suggests that they will do ad buys in 90-second chunks in some battleground states for this. Recent reports had Obama outspending McCain 3-1 since the conventions, but perhaps Team McCain wanted to conserve its cash for this attack.

I suspect this is not the end of this subject, either. I’d expect at least one more ad featuring John Murtaugh, the son of the judge whose home got bombed by the Weather Underground. Murtaugh, who is running for the New York state legislature, has already released a statement through the McCain campaign attacking Obama for associating with an unrepentant leader of the terrorist organization that tried to kill him as a boy. I’m certain he will happily participate in an ad to put a human face on Ayers’ terrorism.

This ad demonstrates that McCain has no intention of nibbling around the edges on Ayers. He will go after Obama with everything he has on this subject. This also puts pressure on McCain to “say it to his face” in the next debate, as Obama will certainly challenge him to do after this ad airs. Bob Schieffer, the next debate moderator, may already be writing the question for it now.