IMPEACH BUSH

Republican Sen. John McCain had long promised American voters that he would be the ultimate maverick presidential candidate and run "a respectful campaign."

Americans "don't want us to finger-point and question each other's character and integrity," he told Ohio voters just five months ago.

But that was then - before the economy was in free fall and before his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, had gained ground in key swing states.

And this is now - the Arizona senator's campaign is pounding the drum to raise doubts about Obama's patriotism and what it calls his questionable background, particularly his past relationship with former '60s radical Bill Ayers.

With just three weeks to go until Election Day, McCain's campaign has ramped up expressions of raw Republican anger and frustration as the candidate has battled for traction. Recent rallies starring McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have aired openly hostile and anti-Obama rhetoric - even cries of "terrorist," "liar," "off with his head" and "kill them," which have gone unchallenged from the stage.

On Friday, McCain found himself in a tricky balancing act - booed by supporters at a Minnesota rally when he urged them to "be respectful" of the Illinois senator, even challenging one woman who said she didn't trust Obama because "he's an Arab."

"No, ma'am," McCain responded. "He's a decent family man, citizen; I just happen to have disagreements with (him) on fundamental issues."

Stoking fear and anger

The senator's attempt to contain his supporters' passion at a rally was his first in recent weeks, and comes at a time when political observers have targeted Team McCain's aggressive and increasingly personal attacks on Obama. They say the campaign has walked the line of being risky - and even irresponsible - in aiming to fire up the GOP base by stoking fear and anger.

"Those rallies are becoming potentially dangerous," said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who warned that it is high time for the McCain campaign to "tamp down" the anger for safety's sake.

"I think they are bordering, frankly, on creating a level of anger when McCain loses, there may be the kind of demonstrations we've seen in San Francisco" when emotions and politics mix violently, Brown said. He was referring to the "White Night" riot that followed Dan White's voluntary manslaughter conviction in 1979 for the killings of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

He added that as he watches voters express rage at Obama directly in front of the GOP candidates, "you can imagine the kinds of things going on in the McCain campaign that could whip up something similar if their guy doesn't do well."

William Milliken, a former Republican governor of Michigan and a McCain supporter, also said this week that he is deeply disappointed in the tenor and personal attacks of the current campaign, and the GOP candidate is "not the McCain I endorsed."

"He keeps saying, 'Who is Barack Obama?' I would ask the question, 'Who is John McCain?' " Milliken told the Swamp Politics blog. "Because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me. ... He ought to be talking about the issues."

Call for respect

But even as the GOP presidential candidate himself called for respect for his opponent, his surrogates and supporters turned up the heat to raise questions about the patriotism of Obama and his wife, Michelle, as well as their connections to Ayers - even implying possible links to terrorism. McCain supporter Dewey Stokes, a law enforcement official, in an official McCain-Palin campaign conference call with reporters Friday, appeared to suggest such a connection when he said of Obama: "The candidate has to be straightforward ... telling us if he supports violence. Then, you know, that may answer a lot of questions for a lot of voters."

Asked by The Chronicle if he was suggesting Obama or his wife were directly or indirectly involved in terrorism, Stokes strongly denied that. But he added that "even the flow of funds concern me - as to where you can raise so much money in such a short period of time."

Obama himself has noted he was just 8 years old when Ayers was active in the Weather Underground, a '60s radical organization, but he has repeatedly and strongly denounced the group and its violent activities.

There have been other lines of attack, as well.

At least one speaker at a McCain rally used Obama's middle name - Hussein, which many take to be code to imply that he is Muslim. And an official California Republican party release Friday noted the Obama campaign's outreach to a Muslim meeting in Virginia, at which it was later learned that several controversial activists were present. It was headlined with the question: "How many times has the Obama campaign met with groups tied to or connected with terrorist organizations?"

McCain campaign co-chair Frank Keating was even more direct: In a radio interview this week with comedian Dennis Miller, he characterized Obama as "a guy of the street" who "used cocaine."

'Red herring'

Obama, asked about the tactics, said Friday on CNN, "Nothing's easier than riling up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that's not what we need right now in the United States." He said the efforts were a "red herring" intended to distract voters from the economy.

Still, David Gergen of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, who is also a CNN commentator, warned this week about "the ugliness" of the campaign, particularly rallies where "there is this free-floating sort of whipping around anger that could lead to some violence.

"I think we're not far from that. ... I really worry when we get people ... when you get the kind of rhetoric that you're getting at rallies now."

Gergen cited the current mudslinging tone of the campaign - such as Palin's repeated charge that Obama associates with "domestic terrorists" - as not serving McCain well.

"They ought to rein her in ... when she is whipping her crowds up and when somebody yells out 'terrorist' and 'kill him, kill him,' " he told Comedy Central's Steven Colbert. McCain "is a better man that that."

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has also warned of fallout. "In a world where unspeakable violence is too often promulgated by extremists, it is no small or trivial matter to call someone a terrorist - or to incite potentially dangerous individuals toward violence," he said in a release. "John McCain, Sarah Palin and Republican leaders are walking a very thin line in pretending not to hear the hateful invectives spewed at their rallies."

Reaction downplayed

But Rick Davis, senior strategist for the McCain campaign, on Friday downplayed the increasingly heated reaction of voters at McCain rallies in a conference call with reporters, insisting, "I don't think there's much to it."

Asked whether there was potential danger in the ramping up of rhetoric at McCain rallies, Davis said, "Obviously, we don't know who these folks are.

"Many people are incredibly frustrated. The level of frustration and anger that is boiling over is just indicative of what's going on in our country right now," Davis said. "I'm very confident that it has nothing to do with what our candidates are doing and saying on the stump."

But "our rhetoric pales compares to what Barack Obama is saying every day," he insisted, adding that "there are some instances occurring at Obama rallies, they just don't get the kind of attention" from the media. "I don't think it's that big a deal," Davis said.

Hoover Institution research fellow Bill Whalen said that such efforts by McCain to raise questions about Obama aren't surprising in a time when the Republican has been slammed by the economy - and the unpopularity of George W. Bush.

"McCain is trying to change the narrative in his campaign in any way he can to get it off the economy - and the fear that Obama may be inevitable," he said. "Part of that is changing the conversation and to get reporters to write different stories."

Time to rethink?

But Cassandra Pye, a Republican and former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as a former political director for the California Chamber of Commerce, said the McCain campaign may need to rethink its strategy of "guilt by association" attacks.

"I'm not sure these sorts of tactics ultimately achieve any widespread impact. Independent voters, in particular, have shown repeatedly their distaste for the negative stuff," Pye said.

"While the attack clearly plays well with the Republican base ... I have to believe most voters find it a little far-fetched and maybe even desperate tactic," she said.

"Voters who are worried about their jobs and their wallets and portfolios are going to care little about a relationship that is a distant one at best."

E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle