Obama Under Fire
As Personal Ties
Stir Controversy

Pastor, Ex-Patron
Give the Campaign
New Set of Problems

By CHRISTOPHER COOPER and NICK TIMIRAOS

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is entering a new phase of scrutiny as he grapples with the fallout from statements by his longtime spiritual adviser and the indictment of a former political patron.

Sen. Obama said Friday that his past political campaigns had accepted more money raised from Chicago developer Antoin Rezko, on trial on influence-peddling charges, than he had previously said.

CAMPAIGN TEST

• What's Happening: Sen. Obama is grappling with the fallout from statements by his longtime spiritual adviser and the indictment of a former political patron.

• The Strategy: The candidate has sought to be forthcoming in response to criticism.

• Meanwhile: In Iowa, Sen. Obama gained nine delegates.

Meanwhile, Sen. Obama denounced remarks by Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. as "inflammatory and appalling" when videos of Rev. Wright's sermons surfaced last week. Rev. Wright retired this month as pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Sen. Obama has been a member for nearly 20 years. Sen. Obama was married by Rev. Wright and had his two children baptized by the pastor, who resigned as an unpaid adviser to the campaign Friday night.

In one of the sermons, the minister urged congregants to sing "God D- America" instead of "God Bless America" for its poor treatment of black citizens. In another sermon he blamed American foreign policy for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The weekend did offer some good news for Sen. Obama: He won a majority of votes to seat delegates at Iowa's spring convention, adding nine delegates to his tally. Sen. Obama led Sen. Hillary Clinton with 1,617 to 1,498 delegates yesterday, according to the Associated Press; 2,025 are needed to secure the nomination.

Kirk Wagar, Florida finance chairman for Sen. Obama and a born-again Christian, said the Wright issue doesn't necessarily hurt Sen. Obama's general-election prospects. Mr. Wagar said the straightforward way Sen. Obama dealt with the issue over the weekend should make some difference.

Sen. Obama posted online a 3½-minute video outlining his rejection of the remarks. He asked his supporters to forward the video "as the emails and accusations about this continue to swirl...in the coming weeks and months."

The fallout from the Wright controversy could largely be determined by Sen. Obama's response, and whether voters see it as sincere.

"Being a voice of unity is a part of Obama's brand, and anything that injures that is a serious blow," says Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who isn't affiliated with either candidate.

Sen. Obama has touted his ability to reach out to independents and Republicans and his prospects for delivering a state that has traditionally voted Republican, such as Virginia. The fallout could be most closely seen among these voters in the general election if he is the Democratic nominee.

"It does hurt his appeal," says Bill George, an uncommitted Pennsylvania superdelegate and the head of the state chapter of the AFL-CIO. "He may have lost those people who have some racial inner doubts about him." But Mr. George says he thinks that Sen. Obama has responded well to the controversy and that the episode won't affect his vote as a superdelegate.

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Rev. Wright's language seemed to stir little apprehension at Iowa's county conventions, where Sen. Obama picked up strength in the second stage of the state's multistep delegate-selection process Saturday. The Illinois senator won 52% of the delegate seats to this spring's district and state conventions, where Iowa's 45 delegates to the national convention will be chosen. He took more than half of the delegates that had been committed to former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

At the Carroll County convention in Western Iowa, Tim Tracy, elected as one of 10 Obama delegates to the next stage of conventions, called the Wright issue a distraction. "If it didn't come out of [Sen. Obama's] mouth, I don't care about it," said Mr. Tracy. He said issues like the Wright sermons "don't matter. They die a natural death in a week."

Parishioners of Pastor Jeremiah Wright defended the former pastor saying that his sermons have been taken out of context. Barack Obama has condemned some of his racially-charged sermons.

The controversy over the minister's sermons erupted just as Sen. Obama answered anew questions about his relationship with Mr. Rezko, a Chicago developer and former Obama fund-raiser who is on trial in federal court, accused of soliciting kickbacks in return for Illinois state contracts.

In interviews with two Chicago newspapers Friday, Sen. Obama said that Mr. Rezko's political patronage for all of his past political campaigns totaled around $250,000. The campaign had previously estimated the figure at $150,000 and said it had donated that amount to charity. The Obama campaign says it will donate to charity the other money from Mr. Rezko and associates.

Mr. Rezko hasn't donated to Sen. Obama's presidential campaign. A 2005 land purchase involving the two men has been the subject of intense scrutiny, since Sen. Obama has said that he knew Mr. Rezko was under federal investigation at the time.

In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Sen. Obama gave an explanation for his new willingness to discuss Mr. Rezko: "We want to put the sense that we're not being forthcoming behind us as quickly as possible," he said.