The McCain campaign continues to ratchet up efforts to credibly link Barack Obama with “unrepentant terrorist” Bill Ayers with the release of two new ads - one web, the other a “national TV buy - that mark the first instance where the Ayers connection has been brought up outside of a stump speech, interview or press release. There is still no response from the campaign as to why McCain himself didn’t bring up Ayers in this week’s debate - although campaign insiders are feeling the pressure from conservatives and promise that the final presidential debate next week will feature McCain’s hardest face-to-face shots yet against Obama.

There has been the non-stop chatter from conservatives and the campaign itself about Obama’s “undisclosed” relationship with Bill Ayers and how an association with an “unrepentant terrorist” should be an important issue for voters in the race. But yesterday’s release of a web video slamming Obama for refusing to disclose what the campaign calls a “deep” and “long-standing” relationship with Bill Ayers was the first step in going beyond simple stump outrage.

The video, “Ayers,” is a nearly two-minute attack on Obama for downplaying his Ayers connection and a recitation of just how “bad” Bill Ayers really is - that he isn’t “just a guy in my neighborhood” that Obama says. The video, skillfully released on the web as nothing more than a free publicity vehicle to be used by the media, accuses Obama and Ayers of “running a ‘radical’ education foundation, together” and paints Obama as “too risky for America” because of this supposed “connection” to Ayers.

It wasn’t until today that an actual TV ad was put out by the McCain campaign that included a mention of the Ayers accusations, tying it in with denouncing Obama and his “Congressional liberal allies” for essentially causing the housing crisis and the Wall Street crisis by fighting against “more regulation” and pushing for bad loans.

The ad is called “Ambition” and is supposed to run nationally, although there is no report of any actual ad buys associated with the ad.

Script and video below.

ANNCR: Obama’s blind ambition.

When convenient, he worked with terrorist Bill Ayers.

When discovered, he lied.

Obama. Blind ambition. Bad judgment.

Congressional liberals fought for risky sub-prime loans.

Congressional liberals fought against more regulation.

Then, the housing market collapsed costing you billions.

In crisis, we need leadership, not bad judgment.

JOHN MCCAIN: I’m John McCain and I approve this message.

The question that immediately comes to mind upon reviewing what amounts to baby steps in the great Bill Ayers/Obama/McCain campaign saga is why McCain himself has failed to bring up these charges in either of the two debates - by far McCain’s largest audiences during the campaign - and why both he and his campaign suddenly decided that Bill Ayers was important as soon as the economy shot to the top of important issues in the campaign and as Wall Street continues its roller coaster spiral downward.

Remember that Hillary Clinton played the Ayers card late in her primary campaign as Obama was monotonously working his way to the delegate threshold. Conservatives in the media and the blogosphere have been hounding Obama over the Bill Ayers/Jeremiah Wright relationships for, well, years.

The accusations about Ayers and the undisputed history between Ayers and Obama has been out there for nearly as long as Obama has been running for president. Surely the McCain campaign could have educated themselves on this topic earlier and used it as a weapon early in the campaign if it was of such vital importance to voters?

Opinions, aside, McCain is inching towards that dreaded “nuclear option,” where Ayers or Wright - or both - make their explosive debate debuts. The campaign knows it is beat on the economy and that any hope for victory relies on hitting Obama on his character and background; intangibles to voters that McCain must be able to turn into the hottest issues of the campaign in these final few weeks.