Romney, McCain spar over independent ads

Reed said last week that the group is being financed by McCain donors. On Monday, he said the foundation would not limit its contributors to donors of any particular campaign.

"It's a broad issue group that welcomes political adherents of any stripe," he said.

The group, established under tax laws as a 501(c)4 organization, can raise money in unlimited amounts from donors whose identities do not have to be disclosed.

Such non-profits can run political ads as long as they do not expressly advocate the victory or defeat of a political candidate. They also must show that the ad campaign is part of a broader mission related to an issue, not a candidate.

Independent groups cannot coordinate their strategies with a political campaign — a restriction that McCain has said prevents him from asking Reed personally to stop the ads. "I can't do that because that's against the law," he said Sunday on Fox News.

McCain was one of the authors of the 2002 law that eliminated unlimited contributions, or soft money, to political parties.

In the aftermath of the law, political strategists shifted their attention to outside groups that could still obtain soft money and run ads on behalf of candidates.

Stephen Morton / AP Republican presidential hopeful John McCain at the Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, S.C.

The foundation's ad focuses on two issues that are central to McCain's campaign — support for the U.S. military presence in Iraq and opposition to congressional spending on pet projects.

On Monday, the McCain campaign also released its own ad in New Hampshire, focusing on spending issues. The 30-second spot, running in New Hampshire and Boston markets, cites millions of dollars of congressional earmarks on items such as a bridge in Alaska that led to a sparsely populated island, for a DNA study of bears and for a Woodstock Museum as examples of pork-barrel spending.

The ad shows McCain walking at President Reagan's side, at work and on the campaign trail. "I'll stop wasteful spending by Congress," McCain says. "And restore Americans' trust in their government."

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