Now Bush campaign calls Kerry ad 'libelous'

President George W. Bush's campaign released a letter it said it was sending to television station managers Monday asking them to "set the record straight" about a "false and libelous charge" contained in the latest Kerry campaign ad.

"Your station is being asked to run an ad from John Kerry's presidential campaign wrongly accusing Bush-Cheney '04 of violating campaign finance laws. We ask that your station set the record straight.

"It is completely false and without any evidence that the Bush 'campaign supports a front group attacking John Kerry's military record,' as the Kerry campaign states," the letter said.

Kerry's campaign unveiled the new advertisement Sunday, calling on Bush to abandon "smears" against the Democratic candidate. Newspaper reports have linked key Bush supporters to the financing of television spots by an anti-Kerry veterans group.

"These false attacks are tied directly to President Bush and his friends. In fact a Bush campaign advisor had to resign today because he apparently appears in one of these advertisements," Kerry's running mate Senator John Edwards said in North Carolina Sunday.

"Mr President, the clock is running. The American people deserve to hear from you and they deserve to hear from you that these ads should come down."

At issue are ads released by an anti-Kerry group called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" that is legally barred from coordinating its activities with a political campaign.

The group has accused Kerry of betraying US forces still in Vietnam by opposing the war after he returned home and of lying to get at least two of his five medals, including the Silver Star.

The White House has denied links to the Swift Boat group and said it respects Kerry's wartime service, but categorically refused to repudiate the charges against him.

The group's original ad aired in early August only in three states, but was widely replayed in the national media on news programs.

A study released Friday by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that 57 percent of Americans knew of the ads and their message. And while Bush and Kerry remain neck-and-neck in polls, a CBS News poll released Thursday found that Bush has taken a 55-37 percent lead among veterans since the ads began airing.

Kerry's campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, alleging that the Swift Boat group had illegally coordinated its advertisements with the Bush team -- a charge they furiously deny.