From The NY Times
By Jeff Zeleny

Senator Barack Obama said today that a scandal from Senator John McCain’s past – the Keating Five – was just as relevant to the presidential campaign as questions about who Mr. Obama has associated with over the years.

In a news conference here, Mr. Obama was asked whether his campaign intended to raise the banking scandal from the 1980s, which Mr. McCain has apologized for. Every piece of every candidate’s public record, Mr. Obama said, is “germane to the presidency.”

“I was just asked previously about a whole host of issues and associations that are a lot more flimsy than John McCain’s relationship to Keating Five,” Mr. Obama said. “What I said, I can’t quarrel with the American people wanting to know more about that and me having to answer questions about it.”

Mr. Obama’s background, ranging from his longtime pastor to his friendship with former radicals from the 1960s, has been widely debated during the Democratic nominating fight. He said he expected the same level of scrutiny would be applied to Mr. McCain.

The topic was raised briefly during a 20-minute news conference here today. It drew sharp criticism from the McCain campaign, with a spokesman saying: “Apparently, Obama’s lively calls for new politics ended today.”

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