Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s former pastor, on Monday gave a defiant address in Washington that looks likely to add to Mr Obama’s growing vulnerability ahead of a critical primary in Indiana next week against Hillary Clinton, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Mr Wright, whom many of Mr Obama’s supporters were hoping would maintain a lower profile, denied that the Illinois senator had “denounced” his controversial remarks and said he had merely “distanced himself [from me] because he is a politician”.

On Sunday Mr Obama again condemned Mr Wright’s offending comments, which included the assertion that America brought the 9/11 terrorist attacks on itself and the phrase “God Damn America”. Mr Obama also reiterated that he had not been present when the comments were uttered.

“He did what politicians do. He had to distance himself, because he’s a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was [portrayed as] anti-American...” said Mr Wright.

Mr Wright’s speech, which included a defence of Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, coincided on Monday with the second Republican television advertisement linking Mr Obama to the pastor’s most provocative words.

The first, aired last week in North Carolina, which also holds a Democratic primary next week that Mr Obama is expected to win, was condemned by John McCain, the Republican nominee. But on Sunday Mr McCain changed his tune and gave the green light to further attacks.

Court ruling boost for Republicans

The US Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to Republicans by upholding a voter identification law that Democrats say will depress voter turnout among black Americans and poor people, Patti Waldmeir reports.

The 6-3 ruling, handed down only days before the Indiana primary election, rejected Democratic claims that the state’s voter identification law was unconstitutional because of the burden it imposed on some voters.

Indiana’s law is viewed as the country’s strictest voter ID law, requiring voters to show a government-issued photo ID card to cast their ballot.

Taking another snippet from one of Mr Wright’s sermons, Mr McCain said it was “beyond belief” the pastor had said America was like al-Qaeda under a different flag – remarks that the pastor’s supporters say were taken out of context. Supporters of Mr Obama fear that much more is in the pipeline from the Republicans after the latest commercial, which was shown in Mississippi.

“John McCain needed about 13 unlikely things to happen in order to become the Republican nominee and they all happened,” said Leo Hindery, former senior adviser to John Edwards – who dropped out of the Democratic race after finishing third in January’s primaries – and now an adviser to Mr Obama. “Now, all of a sudden, McCain is the last white man standing and he is hoping his luck is continuing.”

Mrs Clinton, whom an AP opinion poll out on Monday showed for the first time clearly beating Mr McCain in a general election, with Mr Obama neck and neck, has largely refrained from commenting on the Wright affair. Indeed, many believe the Republicans are doing her work for her. In a poll last week after the Pennsylvania primary, which Mrs Clinton won by almost 10 points, almost a fifth of Democrats said they were less likely to vote for Mr Obama because he was black.

Another chunk of Democrats incorrectly believe Mr Obama is a Muslim. Many blue-collar Americans, who make up a large slice of the electorate in Indiana, believe Mr Obama is out of touch with ordinary people.

“Even liberal commentators who adore you warn you cannot win with a coalition of college students and white-wine sippers from the party’s left wing,” wrote Karl Rove, President George W.Bush’s former electoral adviser, in the latest issue of Newsweek magazine.