While Barack Obama’s wife supposedly moved the masses with an “emotionally powerful” speech at the Democratic convention, the presidential candidate worked behind the scenes to kill a television ad that highlights his decades-long relationship to a renowned terrorist.

The Illinois senator has warned television stations across the nation not to continue airing the incriminating commercial—paid for by a conservative nonprofit—linking him to William Ayers, a Vietnam-era radical and fugitive from U.S. justice who has proudly admitted planting bombs on the Capitol, Pentagon and other government buildings to protest U.S. policy.

Ayers, a member of the domestic terrorist group Weather Underground, has long supported Obama’s political career by donating money to his campaigns and hosting fundraisers at his home. The Democratic presidential candidate and aging radical hang out in the same political and social circles, live in the same Chicago neighborhood and for years served on the board of a Chicago nonprofit.

For decades Obama didn’t seem bothered by his terrorist buddy’s violent past or that he publicly says he doesn’t regret setting bombs and that in fact his group “didn’t do enough.” To this day, Ayers, a professor at a public university in Chicago, proudly sports a tattoo on his neck featuring the rainbow and lightning weatherman logo that appeared on letters taking responsibility for the bombings.

Ayers was a fugitive from U.S. justice for a decade and eventually surrendered in 1980. He avoided prison because the government evidently conducted improper surveillance but Weather Underground was formally labeled a “domestic terrorist group” by the FBI.

With a prestigious Ivy League degree under his belt, Obama evidently realized that this is not the kind of friend a prospective commander-in-chief should have. Besides trying to block stations from airing the damaging ad, the senator has asked the Justice Department to intervene and he has tried bullying advertisers to pressure stations that continue airing the commercial.

Many have ignored the threats. This week the ad has run about 150 times in local markets throughout the country, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan. The commercial simply points out that Obama and Ayers are friends and that the senator has defended the terrorist as respectable and mainstream. It also reveals that Obama’s political career was launched in Ayers’ home and that the friends served together on a left-wing board.

It concludes by planting two interesting questions to ponder as the presidential election nears; why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it? Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?