Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain's claim that Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama is part of a ``corrupt Chicago political machine'' doesn't sit well with Ron Gidwitz.

``I'm not crazy about negative advertising,'' said Gidwitz, a partner at investment firm GCG Partners and former chief executive officer of Helene Curtis Industries Inc., the Chicago beauty products company. The ads ``weren't helpful for the city,'' he said.

Another Democrat defending the party and its candidate? Not quite: Gidwitz is a McCain supporter who sought the Republican nomination for Illinois governor in 2006.

McCain, whose negative campaigning was cited by former Secretary of State Colin Powell as a reason for his endorsement of Obama, is alienating other Republicans in Chicago as well, including members of the business community.

``There are a lot of great businesses here, a lot of good Republicans in this city,'' said Jerry Roper, president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, who didn't disclose his party affiliation and said he hasn't decided whom to support. ``It does a disservice to those Republicans who reside here and to those businesses that are trying to build their companies.''

One McCain advertisement says Obama, who lives in Chicago and started his political career in the city, is ``born of the corrupt Chicago political machine.'' It mentions his ``patron'' Tony Rezko, a former Obama state Senate campaign fundraiser who was convicted of fraud in June for a plot to receive kickbacks from firms doing state business.

Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman, defended the ads, which have run on television and continue to appear on McCain's Web site.

History of Corruption

``The politics in Chicago, Illinois, have been notoriously corrupted by influence, graft and misrepresentation, in a historic sense,'' Bounds said.

The McCain ads reflect Obama's support from the political establishment, said Tony Peraica, one of five Republicans on the 17-member governing board of Cook County, which includes Chicago.

``They correctly portray the environment from which Obama has emerged,'' Peraica said.

The Republican candidate's ads also mention University of Illinois-Chicago professor Bill Ayers, a former member of the 1960s Weather Underground radical group. Ayers hosted an event for Obama in 1995, when he ran for state Senate, and they served together on boards for the Annenberg Challenge, his campaign said. Ayers declined to comment on the ads.

In Bad Taste

The criticisms disgust her, said Carolyne Crawford, a senior director at Orbitz Worldwide Inc., a Chicago-based Internet travel agency.

``It's in poor political taste to use an attack on a candidate like that,'' she said. Crawford, 39, said she has voted Republican but supports Obama.

McCain is attacking to distract voters from real issues, said Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesman.

``They are creating diversions to cover up Senator McCain's erratic response to the urgent economic crisis,'' he said.

Obama, 47, grew up in Hawaii and moved to Chicago in the 1980s. He was elected in 1996 to the state's Senate, representing the city's South Side for eight years before his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

Political corruption has a long and bipartisan history in Chicago. In recent incarnations, a federal court jury in 2006 convicted former Governor George Ryan, a Republican, of accepting trips and gifts in exchange for political favors. He was sentenced to more than six years.

Robert Sorich, who led Democratic Mayor Richard M. Daley's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and three other men were found guilty by a Chicago federal court jury in 2006 for an illegal hiring scheme. Daley wasn't accused of wrongdoing.

Obama's Edge

McCain is given little chance to win in Illinois, where he trails Obama 56 percent to 39 percent, according to a Rasmussen survey taken Oct. 13. Nationally, Obama leads the 72-year-old Arizona senator with 51 percent to 46 percent, according to a poll released yesterday by CNN-Opinion Research.

In Illinois, Democrats hold the governor's office, both U.S. Senate seats and a majority of its U.S. House delegation, as well as the Chicago mayor's office.

Arsene Gerber, a resident of suburban Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, who commutes to Chicago as a consultant for the city, says he has gone from ``leaning toward McCain'' to ``undecided'' since the Chicago attack ads by the Republican.

``The more I listen to both of them, the smarter Obama sounds,'' said Gerber, 61, a George W. Bush supporter in 2004.

Jim Oberweis, a dairy owner and Republican candidate for the U.S. House seat once held by Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, remains a staunch McCain supporter.

``The whole idea that he represents change is really preposterous,'' Oberweis said of Obama. Still, he wouldn't agree when asked if McCain's ads were a fair portrayal of his rival.

``Whoever is elected president, we're going to cross our fingers and hope for the best,'' Oberweis said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Harris at the federal court in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net; Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 21, 2008 01:01 EDT