Dean's Iowa ad and his 'approval'

Howard Dean, one of the Democratic candidates for President, has been running an ad in Iowa that includes him saying "...and that's why I approved this message." Apparently, some people have decided that the line sounds just a bit weird. Dean's blog takes a moment to explain why the line was included. Turns out there's a pretty good reason.

One provision of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law is that television ads must include "a statement that identifies the candidate and states that the candidate has approved the communication... Such statement-- '(i) shall be conveyed by-- '(I) an unobscured, full-screen view of the candidate making the statement, or '(II) the candidate in voice-over, accompanied by a clearly identifiable photographic or similar image of the candidate ..."

Personally, I kind of like the idea that the candidate must affirm that they have approved the ad as part of the ad. It's been too easy in the past for anyone to purchase air time and run an ad that may or may not have the approval of the candidate it is supposed to be on behalf of. Since it wasn't always clear if a candidate actually approved the ad, if the ad was a negative attack ad, or one that stretched the truth too far, or otherwise ended up causing problems for the candidate, the candidate could simply foreswear any knowledge of the ad and say it had been run without their approval. They can't do that anymore.

It may sound like a silly line at first, but it really goes a long ways to helping make candidates be accountable for the ways in which they are promoted by their supporters, and that's something we've needed for a while, now.

Posted by thorswitch at June 19, 2003 09:31 PM | TrackBack