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RALEIGH (AP)- The Republican Party in North Carolina said Wednesday it's launching a television ad calling Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama too extreme for the state, despite the objections of GOP presumptive nominee John McCain.

In an e-mail to state GOP chairwoman Linda Daves, McCain said the advertisement was "offensive" and urged party leaders to withhold the ad.

"I don't know why they do it," McCain told reporters on his campaign bus Wednesday in Kentucky. "Obviously, I don't control them, but I'm making it very clear, as I have a couple of times in the past, that there's no place for that kind of campaigning, and the American people don't want it."

McCain said he hasn't seen the ad but it has been described to him, "and I hope that I don't see it."

The advertisement raises the specter of Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright, beginning with a photo of Obama and Wright together and a clip of Wright's contentious remarks about America.

"He's just too extreme for North Carolina," the narrator says in the 30-second spot.

Daves said the ad presents a question of patriotism and judgment.

"It is entirely appropriate for voters to evaluate candidates based on their past associations," she said.

The ad will begin running statewide on Monday, a week before the state's crucial May 6 primary.

GOP spokesman Brent Woodcox argued that despite the ad's overwhelming focus on Obama, the spot is targeted at Democratic gubernatorial candidates Richard Moore and Bev Perdue, who have both endorsed the Illinois senator.

"We have a great relation with the RNC and we fully support John McCain for president," Woodcox said. "But this is an ad about two North Carolina candidates for governor. The ad is going to run."

Asked about the ad during an appearance in New Albany, Ind., Obama said: "My understanding is that the Republican National Committee and John McCain have both said that the ad's inappropriate.

"I take them at their word, and I assume that if John McCain thinks that it's an inappropriate ad, that he can get them to pull it down since he's their nominee and standard-bearer."

North Carolina Democratic Party chairman Jerry Meek said the ad is a pitiful attempt to distract attention from real issues.

"It's one thing to criticize somebody for associating with somebody else," Meek said. "But to criticize somebody for associating with somebody who associates with somebody else is ludicrous. Where does it end?"

Obama has repeatedly tried to distance himself from Wright. In mid-March, he denounced Wright's remarks about race and the United States but also said Wright was like a family member. The pastor officiated at Obama's wedding and baptized his two daughters.

North Carolina's primary will divide 115 delegates among the Democratic presidential candidates and decide the party's nominee for governor. Polls indicate that Obama holds a comfortable lead over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the state.