When did Obama know about Ayers terrorist background? My search for Ayers and Dohrn

Chicago Sun Times ^ | 10/8/2008 | Lynn Sweet

[markomalley]

Since the McCain campaign has resurfaced the matter of Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers--the former terrorist now Chicago education professor---there are some matters I am curious about. I say this as one who has explained time and again in print and on television Ayers, by the time Obama met him in the 1990s, was a respected academic who was welcome into Chicago's civic life.

On Monday, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said Obama was not aware of Ayers' terrorist background when he attended a political coffee at Ayers Hyde Park home at the beginning of his state senate race sometime in the fall of 1995. Ayers and Obama first crossed paths in 1995 while involved in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation dealing with urban education issues.

So the question is--I'm just curious and I wonder about this as one who has defended Obama's association with Ayers, the education expert (not Ayers, the terrorist)---when did Obama finally learn about the Weather Underground background of Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn?

As a young reporter working in Chicago, I was well aware of the Weather Underground couple on the lam from the law; Ayers father ran the local electrical utility company and was a big shot in the city. But this was years before Obama came to Chicago. As a rookie at the Sun-Times I tried to find Ayers and Dohrn working some connections, but nothing ever panned out and eventually they surrendered in Chicago in 1981.

I asked Obama chief strategist David Axelrod on Tuesday afternoon here when and how Obama learned about Ayers and Dohrn and their days with the violent radical 1960s group.

[goodnesswins]

Am I racist if I suggest he’s a stereotype of what people WONDER an affirmative action student/employee is....??? It’s unfortunate, as it diminishes the accomplishments of others who made it on their own....i.e. Clarence Thomas

[Son House]

Bernadine Dohrn’s sister, Jennifer Dohrn, may be same sister seen in this documentary celebrating the threats to Americans on a tape as she verifies the voice is Bernadine:

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Bernadine Dohrn’s sister, Jennifer Dohrn was married to the lawyer for the Black Panthers and was a professor at Columbia at the same time that Obama was at Columbia.

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Extensive archival material, including, photographs, film footage and FBI documents are interwoven with modern-day interviews to trace the group’s path, from its pitched battles with police on Chicago’s streets, to its bombing of the U.S. Capitol, to its successful endeavor breaking acid-guru Timothy Leary out of prison.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6078589535743610981&ei=TcToSISuDYKM_QHws5n4Dw&q=Underground+bernadine+dohrn