President Barack Obama was implicated in a variety of "scandals" during the course of his campaign for office. Some of them relate to business deals and professional relationships from Obama's hometown of Chicago, a city with a reputation for corrupt politics, while others focus on gaffes and misstatements made by the candidate on the campaign trail or possible exaggerations in advertisements and campaign literature.

1. Franklin Raines
   • Former Chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae Franklin Raines was an adviser to Obama on mortgage and housing policy. The McCain campaign has mentioned Obama's association with Raines in political advertisements.
2. Antoin Tony Rezko
   • Real-estate developer and broker Rezko has been convicted of wire and mail fraud, money laundering and bribery. Obama is a longtime associate of Rezko, and bought some property from him in 2006.
3. Jeremiah Wright
   • Obama's membership to controversial Reverend Wright's Trinity United Church Of Christ, whose sometimes inflammatory sermons have been posted to YouTube, caused concern among Americans who feared that Obama's views may be more radical than he has publicly indicated. On May 31, 2008, Obama announced that he would end his 20-year membership to the church.
4. Bill Ayers
   • Ayers, now a professor at the University of Illinois, was a member of the radical Weatherman organization in the 1960s and '70s. He and Obama have met on several occasions and were both on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago.
5. Michael Warns
   • Radical black preacher Michael Warns and his followers have interrupted Obama rallies, and have accused Obama of being in league with both Satan and the KKK.
6. George Hussein Onyango Obama
   • Barack Obama's youngest half-brother, George, has lived in poverty for the past ten years on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.

• • A recent Obama ad claims that McCain wants to cut Social Security benefits "in half," despite McCain never specifically making any such proposal.

• WashingtonPost.com: Obama Attacks McCain on Regulation, Lobby Ties (September 20, 2008)
• FactCheck.org: Scaring Seniors
• YouTube: Obama "Promise" Ad (Time: 0:31)

• Mahalo's Guide to McCain's "Education" Ad
  • The McCain campaign has criticized Obama for voting for legislation that would require "age-appropriate" sex education in schools. In McCain ads, the bill was presented as teaching kids about sex before they are taught to read.

• ABC News: Sex Ed for Kindergartners? (July 20, 2007)
• YouTube: Obama Sex Ed for Kindergarten (Time: 0:53)

• Mahalo's Guide to "57 States" Comment
  • During a campaign stop in Oregon, Obama said that he'd visited "57 states." Some bloggers have pointed out that there are 57 member states in the "Organization of the Islamic Conference," but not America

• LA Times: Obama Lapel Pins Unveiled Honoring All 57 States(May 10, 2008)

• Mahalo's Guide to Obama Birth Certificate
  • Hawaii, the state of Obama's birth, does not make birth records available to the public. Some conservative bloggers have speculated as to the validity of information Obama has provided to the public that therefore cannot be verified, including the possibility that his first name might be "Barry," not Barack, his middle name might be "Mohammed" and he may have been born in Kenya, not the US.

• FactCheck.org: Born in the USA (August 21, 2008)
• Michelle Malkin: The Buzz About Barack's Birth Certificate (June 10, 2008)

• Mahalo's Guide to Obama Small Town Comments
  • Speaking to supporters in San Francisco, California, Obama described some small-town Americans, frustrated by globalization and economic hardship, as "bitter" people who "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them..."

• Reuters: Clinton attacks Obama for small-town voter remarks

• Mahalo's Guide to Bernie Mac Obama Event
  • During a July 2008 fundraiser, a performance from the late comedian Bernie Mac included several jokes that the candidate later said he found "inappropriate."

• ChicagoTribune.com: Bernie Mac, Barack Obama (July 14, 2008)
• The New York Times: At Obama Event, a Comedian's Jokes Fall Flat (July 13, 2008)