• The Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, Washington Post , Friday, October 10, 2008 11 AM

As television pundits on both sides of the issue yammer away at the increasingly negative tone of the Presidential campaign, top advisers in John McCain's campaign are grappling over how far attacks on Barack Obama should go.

Some McCain officials are becoming concerned about the hostility that attacks against Obama are whipping up among Republican supporters, the Journal reports. And the Arizona Republican has rejected pleas from some advisers to launch attacks focusing on Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Some longtime Republicans are befuddled by the decision not to go after Wright. "If you're going to go down with [former Weatherman William] Ayers, you might as well go with Wright, too," says Ed Rollins, a longtime Republican strategist. Although accusations of racism would undoubtedly arise, Rollins says Obama's longtime connection with Wright makes the relationship fair game.

Obama, meanwhile, is buying 30 minutes of time on major TV networks for a program to air from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 29. Ad Age says that it is likely become biggest network-TV buy of the presidential campaign. He will appear on CBS and NBC -- as well as Fox, if there is no World Series Game. And the Washington Post reports that an outside public relations expert hired under a $31,000 contract with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources pitched the "upstart governor" as a crusader against Big Oil, a story line that Sarah Palin has adopted in her campaign as McCain's running mate. The agency signed a contract with Marcia Brier, founder and principal of MCB Communications. Her Web site says she has been a public relations expert for 20 years. No marketing news from the Joe Biden front today.

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