Bush plans legal action on campaign ads

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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - US President George W Bush on Thursday sought to ease differences with ally senator John McCain by promising to take legal action to stop a wave of ads by outside groups, including those attacking the war record of Bush's presidential election rival John Kerry.

The White House said Bush made the commitment to file a lawsuit against the Federal Election Committee when he spoke to McCain in a telephone call from air force One.

The Arizona Republican and Vietnam veteran has called on Bush to do more to end anti-Kerry ads by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has accused Kerry, McCain's friend and the Democratic presidential nominee, of lying about his Vietnam War service.

The White House made the announcement as Bush emerged from seclusion at his Crawford, Texas ranch and started a week of intense campaigning before next week's New York Republican convention with a raucous rally in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a state he lost to Democrat Al Gore by just 366 votes in 2000.

Bush was accompanied for the first time on the campaign by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican whose response to the September 11 attacks made him a national figure and popular with independent voters.

The fierce dispute over Kerry's record in Vietnam, where he was decorated for bravery, has dominated recent campaigning in the neck-and-neck race for the November 2 election. Both candidates are trying to portray themselves as the best man to lead the United States in its war on terrorism.

McCain has also asked Kerry to pull ads that featured the Arizona senator at a 2000 debate as an example of how the Bush campaign smeared other veterans. The Kerry campaign said in Minneapolis it would withdraw them from the airwaves.

McCain has threatened to raise his concerns about the Swift Boat ads when he campaigns with Bush next week.

He wants Bush to directly condemn the ads. Bush has yet to do so, issuing instead a blanket condemnation against all outside groups funded by unregulated soft money.

"The president said he wanted to work together (with McCain) to pursue court action to shut down all the ads and activity by the shadowy ... groups," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard air force One.

McClellan said the lawsuit would be filed by the Bush campaign -- rather than the White House -- against the Federal Election Commission.

"There have been previous complaints filed against the FEC. The FEC had an opportunity to act... They did not act. So that allows those who had filed those complaints to pursue action against the FEC," McClellan said.

McClellan said McCain told Bush during their conversation that "he thought it was a good idea to work together to shut down this kind of activity."

But McClellan did not say when legal action would be taken by the campaign, and he would not single out the Swift Boat group for condemnation. "The president condemns all the ads and activity by these shadowy groups," McClellan said.

Federal election rules bar organisations that take unrestricted donations from coordinating their activities with campaigns or political parties.

Records show the Swift Boat group received some of its funding from long-time Bush supporters. Its new commercial also features one veteran, Ken Cordier, who was on a Bush campaign committee until last week, when he was forced to quit.

A top lawyer for Bush's re-election campaign, Benjamin Ginsberg, resigned on Wednesday after disclosing he has been providing legal advice to the Swift Boat group.

- REUTERS