- CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters)
- A Vietnam veteran who worked with President Bush's campaign has left
over his appearance in a commercial by a group challenging Democratic candidate
John Kerry's war record, a campaign spokesman said on Saturday.
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- Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Ken Cordier
was a Bush supporter during the 2000 election and served as a member of
his steering committee to help reach out to veterans during this election.
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- ``Col. Cordier did not inform the campaign of his
involvement in the advertisement being run by (Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth),'' Schmidt said. ``Because of his involvement with this 527 (group),
Col. Cordier will no longer participate'' in the steering committee.
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- The disclosure of Cordier's involvement came one
day after White House spokesman Scott McClellan and Bush campaign chairman
Marc Racicot denied the campaign coordinated with the group on the ads,
which claim that Kerry lied about his Vietnam War service.
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- Kerry has called the ads inaccurate and accused the
group of being a front for the Bush campaign. On Friday the Kerry campaign
filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission seeking to force
the ads' withdrawal.
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- New advertisements by the group are set to debut
next week in states where Kerry has touted his military service. Kerry
won several medals and his record is often contrasted with Bush's service
in the Texas Air National Guard during the war.
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- McClellan has refused to specifically condemn the
ads and instead has urged Kerry to join Bush in calling for an end to all
commercials funded by unrestricted donations.
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- U.S. advocacy groups can collect vast sums of money
to run their own political advertisements but are barred from coordinating
their activities with campaigns or political parties.
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- ``There seems to be an increasing amount of evidence
that the Bush campaign is behind this,'' Kerry campaign spokesman Phil
Singer said. ``So it's no surprise that the president refuses to condemn
these scurrilous ads.''
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- The Bush campaign has said Kerry ignores the fact
that his backers run attack advertising aimed at the president.
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- Over the last 12 months, groups favoring the Democrats
have spent $63.5 million on ads attacking Bush, according to the Bush campaign,
which filed its own FEC complaint earlier this year alleging coordination
between Kerry and the left-leaning groups.
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