Post editorial staff wrote that "Two members of Mr. Obama's political circle, James A. Johnson and Franklin D. Raines, are former chief executives of Fannie Mae." On September 18, 2008, John McCain's campaign published a campaign ad that quoted The Washington Post reporting regarding Raines and Obama. The ad also notes that "Raines made millions and then left Fannie Mae while it was under investigation for accounting irregularities". Neither Raines nor the Obama campaign had disputed the Post reporting before the ad. The text in question consisted of one sentence in each article. After McCain's ad however, both denied that Raines was or had been a provider of advice to Obama or the Obama campaign. In later commentary The Washington Post (the original source) described McCain's attempts to connect Obama with Raines based on their reporting as "a stretch" and said all reporting they did about the matter actually stems from a single conversation a reporter had with Raines in which she recalls Raines said he "had gotten a couple of calls from the Obama campaign". When the reporter queried Raines to the nature of the calls he said "oh, general housing, economy issues". Additionally, an email hoax falsely claimed that Raines was made "chief economic advisor" for the Obama presidential campaign. See also Raines v. Byrd Raines' Rules References External links OFHEO director testimony before US Senate - Franklin Raines conduct as Fannie Mae CEO Video interviews - Franklin Raines with Stephen Shepard Article by Henry Blodget of Slate magazine defending Franklin Raines - October 7, 2004 1949 births African-American businesspeople Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford American Rhodes Scholars Fannie Mae chief executive officers Directors of the Office of Management and Budget Harvard Law School alumni Living people United States presidential advisors Harvard College alumni Clinton administration cabinet members African-American members of the Cabinet of the United States