Renewed attacks over Ayers as battle moves to Florida

JOHN McCAIN renewed his attacks on Barack Obama’s ties to a 1960s radical as he targeted the key battleground state of Florida.

McCain, who refrained from linking Obama to Bill Ayers during recent speeches, went back on the offensive just days before the November 4 poll in an interview with a Spanish-language radio station in Miami.

“I think this whole issue of the relationship with Bill Ayers needs to be known by the American people,” he told Radio Mambi yesterday.

“Senator Obama said it was just a guy in the neighbourhood. We know much more than that.”

Ayers was a member of the “Weathermen” movement, classified by the FBI as a “domestic terrorist organisation,” which carried out a series of attacks to protest the Vietnam War.

Obama met Ayers in 1995 but his campaign has said he has not spoken or exchanged emails with him since Obama became US senator in 2005.

McCain, 72, gave several radio interviews in Miami as he attempts to woo the influential Hispanic vote in Florida.

Later McCain took aim at recent comments by former Cuban president Fidel Castro, who had ridiculed the former pilot’s low grades at naval academy.

“I notice in the past couple of days that Fidel has made his preferences known in the campaign and had some very unkind things to say about me. My feelings are hurt.”

More than one million Cuban-Americans live in Florida.

McCain attempted to tap into anti-Castro sentiment by vowing to “restore freedom and democracy” on the island, criticising Obama for advocating a policy of diplomatic engagement.

“I think we all know that the Cuban-American vote can be vital to whether I win Florida. So I do want to say again that we will never waver in our mission to restore freedom and democracy.”