Obama Know Enough Ad

The non-profit organization American Issues Project released a one-minute video advertisement titled "Know Enough?" in August of 2008. The video questions if voters know enough information about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to make an educated decision to elect him.YouTube Video: Know Enough? (Time: 1:02)

The advertisement alerts viewers to an alleged friendship between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers of Weather Underground. Ayers and Weather Underground claimed responsibility for 12 bombings in the 1970s, including attacks on the U.S. Capitol Building and the Pentagon. The video claims Obama referred to Ayers as "respectable" and "mainstream." It proceeds to question why Obama would be friends with someone who bombed the U.S. Capitol and was proud of it and asks viewers "Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?"YouTube Video: Know Enough? (Time: 1:02)

After attempts to convince individual television stations not to air the advertisement, the Obama campaign requested that the U.S. Department of Justice open a criminal inquiry into the American Issues Project. The campaign claimed it was "a knowing and willful attempt to violate the strictures of federal election law." The American Issues Project responded to the claims by suggested Obama was trying to "circumvent the First Amendment."UPI.com: Obama Asks Justice Probe of 'Issues' Ads