McCain Hires Corrupt Campaign Manager Who Created Racist Ads Against Harold Ford

McCain prepares his "Southern Strategy" for campaign against Obama. ABC News reports: Later today, Sen. John McCain's exploratory committee plans to announce veteran GOP campaign operative Terry Nelson as his pick to be his national campaign manager, should the Senator choose to turn his exploring into a full-blown run for the White House. "We couldn't be more pleased that John asked Terry to oversee the daily operation of the campaign if the McCains decide to move forward. All of us -- Rick (Davis), Mark (Salter), and me -- look forward to a crash course in metrics," McCain's top political strategist John Weaver told ABC News. (…) Nelson's hire is clearly a huge get, but will not come without controversy. Nelson made political headlines in the 2006 cycle as the strategist tapped to head up the RNC's independent expenditure which was responsible for that extremely controversial ad in Tennessee against Harold Ford, Jr. featuring a young blonde actress portraying a woman who met Ford at a Playboy party and who suggestively asks him to call her at the end of the ad. (It caused enough heartache for one of Nelson's other clients, Working Families for Wal-Mart, that they sought and received his resignation after the episode.) Nelson was also tied up in the recently settled New Hampshire phone jamming case and in Tom DeLay's TRMPAC troubles from his days at the RNC.