Schnur added that the advertisements also raised questions about McCain's promise to conduct a clean, positive presidential campaign.
"These ads ran contrary to everything we were trying to do," he said.
The Bush campaign seized on the ads, running several commercials of their own which questioned McCain's judgment in producing them.
The second big mistake, according to Schnur, was the authorization of phone calls to Catholic voters in Michigan prior to the primary in that state, reminding them of Bush's visit to Bob Jones University.
Several university officials, including the son of its founder, had in years past made derogatory statements toward Catholicism and the Pope.
After the visit, McCain's campaign paid an organization to make "Catholic Voter Alert" calls to Michigan voters. The calls, which were targeted at Catholics, did not include mention of the McCain campaign's sponsorship.
"This allowed Bush to turn questions about [the Bob Jones incident] from himself to our own campaign tactics," said Schnur.
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