GOP stoops low in North Carolina

Presidential campaigns are nasty. Duh! Television ads can highlight the worst attributes of a candidate's opponent. What else is new? Even so, the North Carolina Republican Party's ad showcasing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.'s awful words sets a new low for the 2008 campaign.

Just because a party is allowed to air an ad doesn't make it ethical or wise to do so. This ad is neither.

The ad features Wright, the riled-up, longtime pastor of Sen. Barack Obama, saying hateful things about America. You remember the snippet played repeatedly on TV about a month ago. The revelation about Wright's words prompted Obama to deliver a high-minded, intellectual speech about the complicated topic of race in America.

The North Carolina GOP employs guilt by association in two ways by blasting two Democrats running for governor and deriding them for supporting Obama, who the ad declares is "too extreme for North Carolina."

Obama said numerous times and in numerous ways he does not agree with Wright. The Illinois senator is not an angry man. He came of age at a different time and in a different circumstance than the pastor.

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee who would benefit from the ad, raised the ethical bar by imploring the state party not to run the advertisement. "There is no place for that kind of campaigning," he said. "The American people don't want it, period."

It can be argued that McCain wins two ways: by calling for a higher standard of ethics in campaigning, and by having the ad run anyway.

By speaking out, however, McCain in effect promises not to engage in gutter campaigning — and he should be held to that standard.

The North Carolina GOP decided to ignore McCain's request. North Carolina's primary is May 6, the same day as the Indiana primary.

Obama has tried to run a dignified, non-attack campaign. The North Carolina GOP does McCain no favor by airing an ad clearly below the average citizen's standard of reasonable campaigning.