West, Donavon West

It looks like things are getting negative. McCain is throwing Ayers name around and Obama is countering with a 13 minute documentary on McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal.

Bill Ayers was a radical from the 60's when Obama was just 8 years old. Later in life, Obama and Ayers both sat on the board of The Woods Fund (a non-profit organization). Ayers is currently a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Charles Keating was convicted of racketeering and fraud in both state and federal court after his Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $3.4 billion. McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating after receiving political contributions. The McCain family was close to the Keatings. McCain made at least 9 trips on Keating's airplanes, and 3 of those were to Keating's luxurious retreat in the Bahamas with entire McCain family (including the babysitter). McCain's wife and father-in-law also were the largest investors (at $350,000) in a Keating shopping center; the Phoenix New Times called it a "sweetheart deal."

Ayers contributed $200 to Obama's campaign in 2001. Charles Keating contributed more than $112,00 to McCain's campaign in the 1980s.

How do either of these figures affect you? Let's do the math.

Obama's "association" with Bill Ayers has never cost me, or any taxpayer, a cent. John McCain's direct involvement in the "Keating Five" cost taxpayers $3.4 billion in the 1980s and McCain's continued push for deregulation just cost the American taxpayers $800 billion in the recent bailout.