The FBI is looking into reports in Denver press outlets that a man under investigation for drug and weapons violations may have made threats against Senator Obama, officials said yesterday.

“It’s premature to say that it was a valid threat or that these folks have the ability to carry it out,” an American government official familiar with the investigation said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Mr. Obama will be in Denver this week to accept the Democratic nomination for president. An FBI spokeswoman, Kathy Wright, confirmed the FBI was investigating the reports but declined to elaborate. The Joint Information Center — a command set up by Denver, state, and federal authorities to field press inquiries during the Democratic convention — said it had no immediate comment.

The Associated Press

OBAMA RUNS AD DEFENDING AGAINST ATTACKS ON TIES TO ’60S RADICAL

The Obama campaign is airing a television ad defending the presumptive Democratic nominee against Republican attacks over his ties to an unrepentant Vietnam War-era terrorist, William Ayers. The 30-second spot marks a response to a new ad by a conservative group, the American Issues Project, which hits Senator Obama for his connections to Mr. Ayers, a former member of the radical group the Weather Underground who is now a professor in Illinois and lives near Mr. Obama. Mr. Ayers once held a fund-raiser for Mr. Obama’s state Senate campaign in Illinois, and the Obama campaign has described their relationship as “friendly,” although Mr. Obama has denounced Mr. Ayers’s association with the Weathermen. “With all our problems, why is John McCain talking about the ’60s, trying to link Barack Obama to radical Bill Ayers?” a narrator says in the ad. “McCain knows Obama denounced Ayers’s crimes, committed when Obama was just 8 years old.” The ad implicitly suggests Senator McCain was behind the ad attacking Mr. Obama, even though it was bought by an independent group. Mr. McCain has criticized his ties to Mr. Ayers, and his campaign did so again yesterday. “The fact that Barack Obama chose to launch his political career at the home of an unrepentant terrorist raises more questions about Senator Obama’s judgment than any TV ad ever could,” a spokesman, Brian Rogers, said.

CLINTON GETS CHEERS FROM HISPANIC CAUCUS

The Hispanic activists who were among Senator Clinton’s most loyal supporters gave her a rousing welcome this morning when she turned up at the Hispanic caucus meeting at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. As he introduced Mrs. Clinton, Senator Menendez of New Jersey acknowledged the elephant in the room: the fact that the former first lady performed much more strongly among Latino voters than Mr. Obama did. “She connected with our community in a way no candidate ever has,” Mr. Menendez said. When Mrs. Clinton took the stage, rhythmic cheers of “Hillary! Hillary!” echoed through the room. “I came here to say thank you. Thank you for the support you gave me,” she said, before quickly moving into a pitch for Senator Obama. “On any issue that matters to you, we must have a Democratic president to make progress together,” Mrs. Clinton declared. “I know with all my heart that we cannot afford four more years of the same failed policies.” In her most direct appeal, Mrs. Clinton said she wanted to see her backers in the trenches for the presumptive Democratic nominee. “I am asking you those of you who supported me — I would be forever grateful — to work as hard for Barack Obama as you worked for me,” she said. “Let us remember what we were fighting for. We were not just fighting to elect a particular person president. We were fighting to take our country back. … We are on the same journey now.”

MCCAIN SAYS WIFE WILL TRAVEL TO GEORGIA

Senator McCain told a crowd at a fund-raiser that his wife is on her way to the nation of Georgia, an announcement coming just hours before Senator Obama’s wife made a high-profile speech at the Democratic National Convention. Mr. McCain told a crowd that his wife, Cindy, was to accompany him on the California swing and he apologized for her absence.