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Trying To Difuse A Scandal: Barack Obama campaign cites SC school invites to Ayers

By Seanna Adcox

Barack Obama's campaign is citing the University of South Carolina's speaking invitations to William Ayers and Republican Gov. Mark Sanford's role as school trustee to counter GOP efforts to link the presidential candidate to the 1960s radical.

The governor dismissed the effort as "totally bogus" and said he never heard of Ayers.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said Obama was "palling around with terrorists" and referred to Ayers, an education professor. Ayers helped found the violent Weather Underground group, whose members were blamed for several bombings when Obama was 8. Obama has denounced Ayers' radical views and activities.

The two men live near each other in Chicago, and once worked on the same charity board. Ayers hosted a small, meet-the-candidate event for Obama in 1995, at the start of his political career, but multiple news accounts have said they are not close.

In an e-mail to reporters, the Obama campaign said Ayers is a "distinguished scholar" at the University of South Carolina, where Sanford serves as the ex-officio trustee while governor.

"By Governor Palin's standards, that means Governor Sanford shares Ayers' views," the e-mail read.

Sanford rejected the argument.

"This is a totally bogus story. I've never even heard of the guy" until this weekend, Sanford said Tuesday. "This is a guy I don't know, I've never met."

But the campaign did not back down, saying the connection in both cases is equally tenuous.

"The point is that by Sarah Palin's logic, serving on a board with someone establishes an association with them," said campaign spokeswoman Melanie Roussell. "Obama has served on the board but did not have a relationship with William Ayers. He only met him a few times.

"If her logic is to stand, it could be said that Gov. Sanford has been palling around with William Ayers," she continued.

Ayers has spoken six times over the last 13 years at the University of South Carolina's Museum of Education, but he has "no ongoing connection or relationship with the university," said school spokesman Russ McKinney Jr.

He said Ayers sometimes received travel reimbursements or a stipend for the events sponsored by the university's school of education.

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