WASHINGTON -- John McCain's presidential campaign is denying any connection to Jack Abramoff ally Ralph Reed and accusing Barack Obama and Democrats of taking "desperate" measures to link the two men together.

"It's unfortunate that Barack and his allies have sunk to such depths that they are trying to draw connections that don't exist and everyone knows don't exist," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds told FOXNews.com.

Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition whose political career was thwarted last year by links to convicted lobbyist Abramoff, recently sent an e-mail to his friends urging them to attend a McCain fundraiser in Georgia this week. While Reed did not attend, the fundraiser took in $1.75 million for McCain.

In response, the Obama campaign produced an ad that began airing in Atlanta on Thursday linking Reed to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"It was one of Washington's biggest scandals," the narrator says. "And the Republican power broker Ralph Reed was in the middle of it. In deep with convicted felon and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But when the Senate investigated, the senator in charge never even called Reed to testify. And that senator? John McCain. And who's now raising money for McCain's campaign? Ralph Reed."

The Obama team has also launched a rhetorical attack, saying McCain "is willing to do whatever it takes to win -- even if it means embracing President Bush's policies, his tactics and now his disgraced fundraisers."

In his e-mail to supporters, Reed wrote that he had agreed to participate in the McCain Victory 2008 team -– a joint effort of the McCain campaign, the Republican National Committee and several state GOP committees.

But Reed's name wasn't on the fundraising invitation, he did not attend the event and he personally has not contributed any money to the McCain campaign. He reportedly was asked by McCain's Georgia finance chairman to help generate some contributions and get people to the event.

Talking with FOX News before Monday's event, Reed denied he was scratched from the proceedings.

"I'm in Washington at meetings that have been scheduled for quite some time," he said. "I'm strongly supporting Senator McCain and proud to do so because of his record for lower taxes, stronger families and a 26-year pro life voting record in Congress."

McCain's campaign was initially quiet about the flap, but now it calls the linkage absurd.

"Barack Obama's ad is ridiculous," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers. "However, if Barack Obama wants to have a discussion about truly questionable associations, lets start with his relationship with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, at whose home Obama's political career was reportedly launched."

Republican defenders say this latest round is part of a Democratic strategy to paint everything McCain and the GOP do between now and the Nov. 4 election as low-down and dirty. They say that by injecting Reed into the mix, the Democrats are trying to suggest McCain has abandoned his "maverick" status and succumbed to the "Nixonian skullduggery" Reed has been accused of in the past.

"Ralph Reed or not, one of the things the Democrats have been phenomenally successful in doing is characterizing all Republican campaigns as below-the-belt, dirty tricks," said Eric Dezenhall, a Republican public relations strategist who knows Reed.

Reed is -- or at least used to be -- a lightning rod for Democrats. A friend and political partner of Abramoff since Abramoff ran the College Republican National Committee in the early 1980s, Reed in 1989 became the first executive director of the Christian Coalition, bringing the conservative grassroots organization into national prominence as a singular player in Republican politics.

He thrived on "guerrilla warfare" politics, which became his signature strategy.

By 1995, Reed's angelic, youthful looks and prowess at aggressive organizing and message-crafting had landed him on the cover of Time magazine next to the headline, "The Right Hand of God." But his time at the Christian Coalition was to be short-lived. The group's finances started going into the red and its members began questioning whether they had been taken for granted as foot soldiers for the Republican Party. Reed left in 1997 and started working for himself as a public affairs consultant.

For a millionaire's salary, Reed returned to work with Abramoff, helping mobilize Christian voters to protest Indian casinos that were competing with Abramoff's own tribal casino clients. Revelations about Abramoff's schemes -- which involved Reed taking at least $4.2 million in exchange for his organizing skills and donor list -- hurt Reed so badly that he lost his primary bid for lieutenant governor in Georgia in 2006.

As chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, McCain held hearings about Abramoff's tactics. E-mails released during the hearings quoted Reed saying things to Abramoff like, "I need to start humping in corporate accounts."

Abramoff was convicted in federal and Florida state courts on several charges of bribery, fraud, corruption and tax evasion. Several others, including former House Rules Committee Chairman Bob Ney, R-Ohio, went down with him. Reed was never charged with any wrongdoing.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called Reed a "central figure in the Republican culture of corruption" and said McCain's recent "decision to cozy up" to Reed shows "he cannot be trusted to bring change to Washington politics."

"Watchdog groups are floored that McCain, who has worked with them for years to reform campaign finance law, has called on Reed to help bundle contributions," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "You just have to wonder who's the bigger hypocrite."

But whether tying Reed to McCain will impact the presumptive Republican candidate's image is up for debate.

"I think it's a small blip," said Sean Evans, professor of politics at Union University in Tennessee. "But having said that, many small blips can turn into something that's more problematic."

McCain's campaign, which is trying to maintain support among independents and those who have considered him above the corruptive influence of Washington, has been vociferously establishing "no connection" between the candidate and Reid, and reminding that it was McCain who led the 2004 congressional hearings against Abramoff that singled out Reed in the first place.

"John McCain led the committee that went after Jack Abramoff," said Bounds, referring to the senator's chairmanship of the Indian Affairs Committee, which helped inform the eventual federal conviction of the former lobbyist in 2006. "No one is more responsible for putting Jack Abramoff behind bars."

John Gizzi, political editor for Human Events, said Reed's supposed transgressions and their impact on McCain amount to a lot of titillating talk inside the Beltway, but should not hurt McCain in the long run.

Gizzi added that Reed is "a good political tactician and has something to offer." He suggested that Reed's continuing ability to generate Christian conservative support -– which McCain needs to win in November -– should not be easily dismissed.

"I think Reed could be viewed as an asset to McCain for fundraising -- he's still a great fundraiser," said Bill Greene, a conservative activist from Georgia.

As far as "out front politics," however, "I don't think he's an asset, or detriment, anymore," Greene said. At least in Georgia, he doesn't carry as much political weight as he once did.

McCain supporters, including officials of the Republican National Committee, have suggested that Obama may not want to engage in a tit-for-tat on past associations, pointing to Tony Rezko, the convicted Illinois fundraiser who had helped raise money for Obama's Illinois campaigns.

"If Barack Obama wants to run a campaign based on associations," said one Republican close to the McCain camp, " I'm sure the American electorate will want to revisit his relationship with a number of his associates, including Tony Rezko."