Campaign Finance Disaster
From the Washington Post via Yahoo News:For the past week, television viewers in Lansing, Mich., have been seeing twice as many ads for President Bush's reelection campaign than for Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). But that does not mean Democrats have been falling behind. While Bush and Kerry slug it out, two liberal organizations, MoveOn.org and the Media Fund, have joined the fray with TV spots of their own, knocking the president's record on jobs and the Iraq war.
The result: When Kerry's ad spending is combined with that of the two independent groups, Democrats have been able to go toe to toe with the president. "The share of voice seems relatively equal here," said Michael J. King, general manager of WILX-TV, one of four Lansing stations running campaign ads. "The Democratic side is coming at it from two or three sources."
The ad wars in Lansing may be a microcosm of what is to come in the next few months in cities and states nationwide. In Michigan, Florida, Ohio and 14 other "battlegrounds" that could be decisive in the fall, Democrats are counting on independent but loyally Democratic organizations such as the Media Fund to level the huge fundraising advantage that Bush enjoys over Kerry.
Under federal campaign finance laws, these organizations -- representing teachers, environmentalists, civil rights and abortion rights activists and other traditional Democratic constituencies -- cannot legally coordinate their advertising or activities with the Kerry campaign or the Democratic National Committee. Nevertheless, a coalition of 28 groups says it is poised to raise millions of dollars to supplement the Democratic effort between now and the Nov. 2 election, substantially closing the image-making gap with the president.
The groups, which include the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club and the NAACP National Voter Fund, have no illusions that they can match Bush's potentially record-setting ad spending dollar for dollar, particularly at the national level (Bush's campaign is far outspending all of the Democrats on cable TV networks and radio). Instead, their goal is to keep Democrats competitive with Bush in a few dozen key cities until the Democratic National Convention in late July, after which Kerry will access about $75 million in federal campaign money to compete with Bush.
Matt's Chat
I saw one of the Media Fund ads this morning... While they aren't near as aggravating as the (Can't)MoveOn.org lies, it is fascinating to see how the Party of Love (tm) is getting around campaign finance laws.I'm not a fan of these groups advertising on either side of the aisle. They define their candidate in terms that the candidate doesn't have control over and that just doesn't seem like an effective way to campaign.
Mark's Remarks
These groups are flouting loopholes. Now, there are some libs who will say, "everyone does it." Now that is just juvenile. That is like saying, "everyone else is doing drugs and being idiotic, so therefore it is right." The fact is, the spirit of this law, which had noble intentions, is being violated. And, while the GOP has a, I dunno, maybe two or three 527's, they are nowhere near as funded or as liscivious in their conjecture and libelous comments as the morons at (we never can)moveon.org. And, by the way, they don't have the support of the foundation run by a candidate's wife (Heinz Foundation gave money to several D 527s, including the small group of 9/11 families who protested Bush's ads...hmmm....). They don't have Soros money. Where is the fairness? Wait, libs don't want it fair...they just want to win....I forgot, how silly of me.
