JustASC

Ben Smith reports that Obama’s campaign, angry over the Republican Jewish Coalition ads in Jewish newspapers, has barred its Jewish surrogates from debating representatives of the RJC:

“The Obama campaign has established a rule that, as a result of the dishonest campaign tactics of the RJC, its official advisors are no longer authorized to debate RJC representatives,” wrote Mel Levine, an Obama supporter, to an RJC official in an email. “I do believe the policy decision is correct, in light of the RJC’s dishonest tactics and assertions throughout the campaign. The campaign has authorized its official representatives to debate any legitimate McCain surrogate.”

Here’s JTA’s backgrounder on the RJC ad controversy at Jewish weeklies, and here’s the editorial we carried defending our decision to carry the ads.