Link: Creator of controversial Ford ad unmasked

Former Bush/Cheney '04 political director and current John McCain advisor named as mastermind of ad by Texas paper

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Terry Nelson, a Republican political strategist who previously served as political director of the 2004 Bush/Cheney re-election efforts, has been identified by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper as the creator of the controversial ad that attacked Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. for attending a party sponsored by the adult entertainment company Playboy, while at the 2004 Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.

The controversial aspect of the ad was the invitation from a woman, who is white, for Ford, who is African-American, to "call her" since "she hadn't seen him at the Playboy party."

The ad, which has gained nationwide attention, was quickly denounced by the Ford campaign and even saw the supposed beneficiary of the ad, Republican Senate nominee Bob Corker, call for its removal from television airwaves.

While the ad ended its statewide rotation yesterday, there have been reports that it is still playing in the Chattanooga media market.

Nelson is currently an advisor to possible 2008 presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona). He is the founder of a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, Crosslink Strategy Group.

In an interesting sidebar that is sure to fan the flames of the contoversy, an employee of Nelson's is a former staffer of Sen. Bill Frist, Chris LaCivita. LaCivita served as Frist's political director at the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.