McCain Is Learning From the North Carolina GOP Mess

John McCain condemned the North Carolina GOP when they ran an ad featuring Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and in the last few days has paid a price for it. He's been roundly criticized for spending more time hammering his allies than his enemies, and he may be starting to learn. Another Rev. Wright ad turned up in Mississippi, but this time McCain is not going to comment:

Miami, FL — Sen. McCain said Monday that he refuses to play “referee” as state and local Republicans continue to use the Jeremiah Wright issue in their races across the country.

“I am not going to be a referee. I have made my position very clear on this issue. And that I do not believe that Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright’s extremist statements or views,” McCain said a media availability after a health care round table. “I’ll make my position very clear and then I’ll run my campaign on health care challenges, on all of the great challenges we face, including the economic difficulties we are facing today, the challenges of a recession and providing available and affordable health care to all Americans.”

The latest controversy comes out of a local Mississippi congressional runoff race, where Republican Greg Davis is hitting his Democratic opponent Travis Childers with a new ad invoking Wright. (video above)

“When Obama’s pastor cursed America, blaming us for 9/11, Childers said nothing,” the ad blares. “He took Obama’s endorsement over our conservative values. Conservatives just can’t trust Travis Childers.”

The newest ad comes less than a week after the North Carolina Republican Party announced that it intends to release a spot using controversial Wright statements in order to attack Democratic candidates in the state. McCain repeatedly repudiated the ad last week, but the state party still intends to air the ad this week.

By challenging the NCGOP ad he put himself in the uncomfortable position of being challenged by the press and the Dems on every new ad that comes out. He'll still get the questions for awhile, but if he'll just shut up and let the local GOP committees run their campaigns, he'll have more time to beat on the Dems instead of his fellow Republicans.