Undeterred: "NRA plans a wider ad assault on Barack Obama in battleground states"

Despite threats of lawsuits from the Obama campaign, termed by a campaign finance expert as "frightening" and "dangerous", the National Rifle Association has announced that it is about to turn up the volume on its campaign against Barack Obama by airing more commercials taking him to task over his anti-gun record.

From a report in the Los Angeles Times:

Starting as early as Sunday [October 5], the NRA will be airing a new batch of spots in more battleground states, such as Ohio, Virginia and Florida. As colleague Noam Levey reported back in June, some say the NRA is losing sway. But Democrats, who generally favor restrictions on guns, still shy away from the issue, particularly in must-win swing states.

The NRA already is up with spots in Colorado, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. Some use Obama’s line, uttered at a San Francisco fundraiser, about "bitter" people clinging to their guns. Obama's attorneys sent letters asking that television stations cease airing the ads, but the spots continue to show on cable.

The NRA has set up a website attacking Obama, and so far has disclosed spending $2.2 million on its independent expenditure campaign against the Democratic nominee, Federal Election Commission records show.

That's just a fraction of what the final total will be.

The story goes on to say that John McCain also has taken to talking about Obama's gun views, declaring last week that "if Senator Obama is elected president, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk." McCain noted that he opposed legislation to "ban guns, ban ammunition and ban magazines."

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told the L.A. Times the organization will end up spending well into the “eight figures” -- the report says some have estimated as much as $40 million -- by Nov. 4.

According to the story, the NRA spent $20 million on ads ("That dog don't hunt!") against Sen. John Kerry four years ago, derailing his efforts to fool gun owners with a camo-clad goose hunt in Ohio just prior to Election Day.