Ferrablog

As most of you are aware, the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act requires candidates in their advertisements to state "I'm so-and-so, and I approved this ad". The purpose of this requirement is to cut down on negative advertising by making the candidates less likely to run negative ads when they have to take explicit credit for it. And just about every ad to date has the simple disclaimer quoted above. John Kerry's new ad, "Misleading", however, is the first ad I've seen to take this tagline and put it to work in the context of the ad. After rebutting Bush's recent negative ad, Kerry states: "I’m John Kerry and I approved this message because we need to do what’s right for America’s economy".

Interestingly, in the negative (I'm sorry, "contrast" - the more politically correct term) ads run by Bush this past week, Bush gives the disclaimer at the start of the message, and then there is a nearly full-second pause before the ad begins. Given that the usual m.o. of political advertising is to cram as much into a 30-second ad as possible, there's no question that this is an attempt to separate the message from the messenger.