John, it seems inconceivable that we have gotten this far in the election without Ayers being a point of contention. For reasons that aren’t clear, the McCain camp waited until the waning weeks of the campaign to raise this. But the MSM is disdainful of the subject and much of the public tunes out TV campaign ads. Still, the issue is beginning to resonate. From the latest Fox News poll:

There has also been discussion of Obama’s relationship with 1960s radical activist William Ayers — linked to bomb plots against the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. Almost one-third of all voters (32 percent) say they’d be less likely to vote for Obama knowing of this connection — although the vast majority (61 percent) say it will have no effect on their vote. Somewhat fewer independent voters express reduced likelihood to vote for Obama based on the Ayers information — although, at 29 percent, it is still a potential liability among this key voter group.

And more generally on character and honesty there are some interesting findings:

On the one hand, voters see Obama (by a 41 percent to 26 percent margin) as being more likely than McCain to hide the truth about his background and past associations. . . When it comes to whether the candidates are putting their country first or their campaigns first, there is a bit more agreement. While a majority sees McCain putting the country first (54 percent), a strong plurality (48 percent) takes the same view of Obama. And, a solid majority of voters (56 percent) think the Illinois senator — unlike his Republican counterpart—is running a positive campaign. However, among the critical bloc of independent voters, more think Obama puts his campaign first (44 percent) rather than his country (41 percent). Independents have no such qualms about McCain — 55 percent think he puts country over campaign.

As distasteful as it might be for McCain (again, for reasons not altogether clear), he has no choice but to confront Barack Obama at the final debate. Is Obama sorry he consorted with an unrepentant terrorist? Did he share Ayers’ revolutionary educational reform? And why shouldn’t his association with Ayers, Dohrn, Rezko, ACORN, et. al raise concerns for voters? If the MSM — or even the debate moderator — won’t raise these issues, McCain must. If nothing else, the voters should hear answers from the man most likely to be president.

UPDATE:

Jake Tapper reviews the history of Bill Ayers and his lack of remorse. He reports the following from the Obama camp:

Obama spox Bill Burton says of Obama’s comment that he thought Ayers had been “rehabilitated”: “Senator Obama was referring to his education work but he of course does not believe that work absolves him of the despicable acts that he committed 40 years ago.”

So if his educational work doesn’t absolve Ayers (we’ll leave for another day whether Obama thought the Leftwing claprtrap was great educational theory), and Obama understood at some point he was a henious terrorist, why did Obama remain affiliated with him? Another question for the debate!