While Obama Braces for Race-Baiting Election Ads, His Campaign Hones its Rapid Response

By: Charles Babington, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - (AP) A presidential candidate who's named Hussein and wears a turban? A building that's called the White House but run by a black guy?

Those political images and ideas already have found their way onto TV airwaves and campaign buttons, possible harbingers of racially tinged messages in a general election involving the first black candidate to head a major party's ticket.

Though the election is more than four months away, the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are shaping their strategies for dealing with such appeals.

The Obama campaign vows to fight back fiercely and fast, not repeating John Kerry's mistake of waiting to respond to the 2004 "Swift Boat" ads that Democrats saw as a smear of his military record. McCain's camp is alert for attacks on its man, too.

While Obama Braces for Race-Baiting Election Ads, His Campaign Hones its Rapid Response....