Democratic Senator’s Ads May Break New Ground

October 12, 2011
Democratic Senator’s Ads May Break New Ground
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

This is a very dumb headline, for which the reporter cannot be blamed. "May Break New Ground?" Are you kidding me, it either will or it won't. If it's DIFFERENT in tone and/or content from the countless attack ads we've become so inured to then it PROBABLY will break new ground. Let us read on to see what's what?

WASHINGTON — A new series of political advertisements on behalf of an embattled Nebraska senator could open the door to a flood of similar ads financed by outside groups and even businesses working directly with political candidates — a sharp departure from past practice.



The ads are innocuous enough on their face: Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat up for re-election next year, is featured on television and radio commercials discussing Social Security, the national debt, war veterans and other hot-button issues. What is remarkable, campaign finance lawyers and political operatives say, is that the ads were produced and paid for by Democratic Party officials in Nebraska and Washington — with the senator’s close involvement as their star.

What the fuck is remarkable about THIS? That he actually addresses real ISSUES, to my mind, is the remarkable thing. If ads are being produced and the politician is NOT involved, well, how the fuck can you expect the ads to work? The pol is the "boots on the ground" who knows when he's sinking like a stone and when he's got the crowd's interest and support.

Federal campaign rules restrict politicians from “coordinating” their advertisements with outside groups except under certain circumstances. Politicians — worried about tripping over the legal restrictions — have usually shied away from working directly with outside groups on ads. Instead, “issue” ads paid for by outside groups will typically hit on broad themes without focusing so squarely on a single lawmaker.

Holy fucking shit. What kind of federal campaign rules are THESE? Who the fuck invented them? Who voted for them. THIS IS THE REAL FUCKING STORY, WHICH IS QUITE LIKELY TO BE MISSED BY THE REPORTER! Enquiring minds will read on.

The Nebraska ads, which have cost Democrats more than $600,000 to run so far, could change that practice in a way that has wide implications for the 2012 elections, when 33 Senate seats and all 435 House seats will be up for grabs.

Note how we find out how much the ads cost, but nothing about why the friggin' law is so fucked up to begin with!

Indeed, American Crossroads — the powerful and well-financed Republican group formed with the help of the former White House aide Karl Rove — filed a request on Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission asking for a formal ruling on whether it could “adopt the tactics” of Mr. Nelson in coordinating footage of politicians up for re-election.

Okay, I think I'm starting to get it. The laws were passed by democrats (surprising that Karl Rove asks permission

for anything. He never needed to when His Excellency "W" was king (under the Presidency of Dickhead Chay-Knee)

American Crossroads said in its request that it “may wish to produce and distribute similar television and radio advertisements” featuring incumbents in the 2012 campaigns. The group said that because it was “especially sensitive” about rules banning improper coordination with a candidate, it wanted to check with the F.E.C. first to make sure such ads would be legal.

Okay. Smooth Rovian play - bringing to the attention of the FEC the possible breach of the rules while simultaneously trying to get the okay to go ahead with a nuclear option (which basically will allow outside interests to toss more money into the election campaign than federal laws otherwise permit.

American Crossroads ran into “headaches” in 2010 when it ran ads supporting Rob Portman, then a Senate candidate from Ohio, said Jonathan Collegio, spokesman for the group. To avoid charges of improperly working with Mr. Portman, the group used only publicly available footage of the candidate — yet Democrats still filed a complaint asserting that the advertisements crossed the line.

But we never see Democrats fight for a recount in a Presidential election! Fucking feckless surrender monkeys!

If the F.E.C. now says outside groups can film candidates and work with them to produce ads — as Mr. Nelson’s do — “that would open up a whole new avenue in advertising and advocacy that previously has not existed for us,” Mr. Collegio said.

The maneuver may ultimately haunt Democrats, Mr. Collegio added. “By trying to be clever in helping Nelson,” he said, “they may be opening up a can of worms they may not have wanted to open up.”

Sounds like the Republicrats believe their image -making propaganda artist campaign folk can do better than those retained by the dems. Possibly, but, the Republicrats need viable candidates, and they don't really have many of them.

Even though the ads were underwritten by Democratic organizations, in this instance the parties are considered to be operating as independent organizations engaged in issue advocacy rather than promoting the candidate himself. Under campaign rules, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee would be allowed to spend $240,000 in coordination with Mr. Nelson’s campaign.

Paul Johnson, campaign manager for Mr. Nelson, said in an interview that the Nebraska Democratic Party had spent $600,000 to $700,000 so far on the ads, which began running this summer. A “vast majority” of the money has come from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, he said.

In one ad, the senator stares straight at the camera and portrays himself as a Washington outsider — different from Beltway politicians who “don’t get it” and value politics over all else.

Yeah, sure, politicians are FOREVER running as Washington DC outsiders, and they jump on the gravy train the moment they get erections ... er .... elected.

“Obviously, we got to consult on it,” Mr. Johnson said of the ads, “but it was driven by the party. They were the big dogs on this.”

Mr. Johnson said he was confident the ads complied with F.E.C. rules limiting coordination between a candidate and outside groups, and he noted that party officials financed similar ads for Mr. Nelson in 2006.

He and other Democrats said the ads do not run afoul of the rules in part because they do not come within 90 days of next year’s election — a blackout period for coordinating efforts — and they deal with “issues” without expressly urging Nebraskans to vote for Mr. Nelson.

But some Republicans disagree.

Here we are in serious danger of actually getting some NEWS!

Even as American Crossroads seeks to follow Mr. Nelson’s lead, the Republican Party in Nebraska has filed a complaint with the F.E.C. charging that state Democrats and the senator had gone on a “massive spending spree” that violated campaign rules.

The state Republicans argue that Mr. Nelson’s “issue” ads are really veiled campaign messages meant to get him re-elected, and that state Democrats have far exceeded the $240,000 limit they are allowed to spend in coordinating such political work.

Well, DUH!

Campaign finance watchdogs said they were particularly troubled by the prospect of groups like American Crossroads, or Democratic counterparts like Priorities USA, using hidden, unlimited donations from private corporations to finance ads in conjunction with the candidates themselves. The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the Citizens United case allowed companies to donate money to outside groups for “independent” political expenditures — but not to the candidates themselves.

Whatever THAT means!

“That’s really the problem here — the whole notion of corporations spending unlimited funds,” said Donald Simon, counsel for Democracy 21, a nonpartisan group favoring greater campaign restrictions.

“The door has been opened,” he said, “and the only question is how many corporate spenders are going to walk in.”

ANSWER: Each and every fucking one of them!

Richard L. Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California, Irvine, said the Nebraska ads reflect the inability of the F.E.C. — hobbled in recent years by political gridlock — to put in place and police campaign finance rules.

In examining the Nebraska ads, Professor Hasen said, “I think the practice stinks like a skunk, but at first blush it doesn’t appear to be illegal under the F.E.C.’s precedent.”

“We’re in this brave new world of campaign finance, so we’re seeing all sorts of things we never saw before,” he said. “Nelson does this, and if he’s successful, then you’ll see others going this route. People push the envelope, and no one pushes back.”

Brave new world of campaign finance? HELL, haven't campaigns been financed since th 2nd election?

But for conservatives like Brad Smith, a law professor and former F.E.C. commissioner who favors deregulating campaign laws, the move toward a more direct political role for outside groups is welcome.

It's welcome for me too, probably for different reasons than any Brad Smith might have to say.

“Are they pushing the envelope?” he asked. “Well, we haven’t seen much like this, and we might start to see more of it. They’re at the forefront — the cutting edge, if you will.”