Political Advertising

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's criminal division is investigating allegations that Senate Republicans and the tobacco industry violated federal law by illegally colluding to torpedo anti-smoking legislation in June.The department quietly informed Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle on Aug. 17 that it would examine whether the industry and Senate Republicans engaged in an illegal quid pro quo: political advertising in exchange for votes."The allegation that tobacco companies may have promised favorable political advertising in exchange for a senator's vote on specific legislation raises concerns under the bribery and gratuity statutes," wrote Assistant Attorney General L. Anthony Sutin.

Baltimore-based W. B. Doner & Co. is stepping into the political advertising arena with a new division and a big-name client -- Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York.Giuliani has signed on as the first client of the newly formed Doner Public Affairs, which will produce broadcast and newspaper ads and plan media strategy for the mayor's re-election campaign, the agency said yesterday.Doner, also headquartered in Detroit, formed the division by merging with the Goodman Group Inc., a 38-year-old political media consulting firm with Baltimore roots.

Archbishop John P. Foley, the Vatican's point man on communications, stood before a roomful of advertising executives last week at Baltimore's Belvedere Hotel and called on them to be saints.In order to uphold high moral standards of truthfulness and social responsibility, he said, those who work in the advertising industry might have to make sacrifices."Thus we hope that the advertising industry may produce its share of saints. We also foresee it may produce its occasional martyr," said Foley, a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism and the former editor of the diocesan newspaper in Philadelphia.

For candidates in the race for the 7th Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Kweisi Mfume, the mission is clear.The March 5 primary is little more than two weeks away. Some candidates in the chock-full field of 27 Democrats and five Republicans are better known than others, but name and message recognition generally are not high.Political strategists say the three most effective ways for a candidate to overcome that handicap are television, radio and direct mail. So, get ready for the onslaught.

WASHINGTON -- Steve Forbes, magazine publisher and author of a munificently funded presidential campaign, brings to politics some of the brio of another wealthy American publisher, James Gordon Bennett, who liked mutton chops. A lot.A regular at a Monte Carlo restaurant that prepared his chops perfectly, he arrived one evening to find his favorite table occupied. So he purchased the restaurant for $40,000, evicted the diners from his table, devoured his chops, then, as a tip, gave the restaurant back to the owner.

WASHINGTON -- In November, a representative of Steve Forbes' political advertising agency made a fateful phone call to Julie Campasano, who books political ads at WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H."They wanted to do a 'megabulk buy' -- that's what they called it," Ms. Campasano recalled. "They wanted tonnage, they wanted frequency, they wanted to be wherever they could be. They wanted to buy every stitch of advertising they could get -- and they darn near did. They had a walloping schedule."Financing his own upstart campaign, Mr. Forbes, heir to the Forbes publishing fortune, has turned the Republican presidential primary season upside down, riding his estimated $25 million media blitz to near the top of the polls in New Hampshire.

NORMAN, Okla. -- The grainy, black-and-white image of a little girl fills the TV screen, her guileless voice keeping count as she plucks the petals of a daisy.Before she can finish, she is drowned out by a man's voice, gravely counting down to zero. As the camera zooms closer, an atomic bomb erupts in the darkness of her eye, replacing the girl with a fiery mushroom cloud."We must either love each other," the narrator says, "or we must die."So intense was the outcry over this commercial from President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 campaign that he was forced to yank it off the air after just one showing.

CONGRESS is afraid to tackle campaign reform and is mute when it comes to structural reform of the legislative branch. If this neo-conservative majority is serious about expanding citizen participation there are several measures we all should be considering.* The House of Representatives should repeal the cap on its own membership and increase the number of elected representatives at least 600. No constitutional action is required. Up until 1920 the House had increased its membership after each Census to reflect expanding population.

Paris -- I suppose this is a hopeless cause, but in an election season anything can happen, and certainly this year's has been the most sordid American election campaign yet.Americans do not have to put up with this. There is a way to change the country's political campaigns for the better. It is by eliminating paid political advertising on television and radio.Nearly every other democracy bans paid broadcast political advertising and enforces an impartial use of the airwaves by political candidates and parties.

PERHAPS we should be relieved that television doesn't have as big an effect on our thinking as we seem to think it does.The issue of "Advertising Age" published the day before Election Day predicted that if television ads were the key factor in rounding up the peoples' votes, we'd be saying President-elect Perot today.The $30 million-plus that H. Ross Perot spent on television ads may have not gotten him elected, but he'll be remembered. According to a survey for "Advertising Age" conducted by the Gallup Organization, the Perot ads were "the most memorable and influential."

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the Hunt Valley-based operator of 58 U.S. television stations, reported yesterday an unexpected increase in third-quarter profit on higher revenue from political advertising and lower amortization costs. Net income rose to $11.7 million, or 14 cents a share, from $9.9 million, or 11 cents, a year earlier, the company said. Per-share profit beat the 9-cent average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. With a sinking economy expected to further hurt advertising, Sinclair said it is cutting costs in areas such as salaries, travel and entertainment as well as promotion expenses and capital spending.

Political advertising that could reach record levels is expected to boost revenue this year for Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the company said yesterday. Sinclair, which owns and operates television stations in 35 markets, said net broadcast revenue from continuing operations will likely grow to between $160.2 million and $162.5 million in the first three months of 2008, compared with net revenue of $148.3 million in the first quarter of 2007. The projected increase for the broadcaster, which owns affiliates of FOX, MyTV, ABC, CW, CBS and NBC, assumes a jump in political advertising as well as an estimated $5 million in revenue from advertising during the Super Bowl.

Megan Hardy, an education major at Towson University, has taken her time to figure out who should get her very first vote for governor this fall. She has thought about the issues and talked to her friends, but one thing she hasn't done to make up her mind is pay the slightest bit of attention to the millions of dollars' worth of TV ads that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley are using to pump up their accomplishments and...

TV stations must accept political ads The balance of political advertising vs. political coverage by America's television stations is certainly a topic worthy of discussion. But Michael Olesker's column "Foraging for funds not exactly a Dutch treat" (March 18) presented only half of the issue. Here's the other side of the story: Over the years, television stations such as WBAL-TV have offered free air time to candidates, only to be rejected over and over again. Candidates are reluctant to appear in a debate format; the free time they prefer is a 30-second message carefully crafted by their political consultants.

In The Region Sinclair Broadcast earns $20 million vs. loss in 2Q last year Political advertising and new business initiatives lifted Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.'s second-quarter net income to $20.2 million, compared with a loss of $1.9 million in the quarter last year. The Hunt Valley company said its net broadcast revenue was $179.9 million for the three months that ended June 30, an increase of 2.9 percent over the $174.9 million reported in the second quarter last year. Diluted income per share was 24 cents, compared with a loss of 2 cents per share a year earlier.

WASHINGTON - In a landmark ruling yesterday with implications for the 2004 elections and beyond, a narrowly divided Supreme Court upheld the heart of a sweeping campaign finance law that bans large, unregulated donations to political parties. The law, hailed by its supporters as a way to dampen the influence of big money on elections, bars parties and candidates from collecting contributions known as "soft money" that in the past 15 years have become a central element in the way campaigns are financed.

If you watch television these days, you would think everyone running for office is trying to take medicine from your elderly parents, candy from your baby and money from your pocketbook, denying education to your children and generally subverting the American dream and ruining all that is good about this country. Such are the people who want to be our government's leaders. It's negative political advertising. "Hey, you might not like me, but my opponent is worse!" If pride in your candidate will not get you to the polls, then fear of the other guy - or gal - might.

What Republican congressman is trolling for political support from those who follow the treacly story lines of NBC's Providence? What state's lieutenant governor thinks she can win votes by advertising on WMAR during the mentally taxing Wheel of Fortune? Answers to those questions in just two short paragraphs. (The local television news tease is really underrated as an art form. People should use it more often in their daily lives, as in: "What child of mine failed to rake the leaves this weekend?

Lynne Bergling's campaign for Howard County Council won't feature her "standing on street corners, distracting traffic," by waving political signs, she says. But Councilman Christopher J. Merdon, the Ellicott City Republican whom Bergling hopes to unseat, has been out waving signs at motorists for weeks, not to mention knocking on doors every Saturday and Sunday. "I think it's critical to be able to get out and meet people face to face," Merdon says - even 11 months before the election.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said yesterday that its broadcast cash flow, an important industry yardstick, went up 8 percent to $101.2 million and that net broadcast revenue rose 7.2 percent to $199.5 for the fourth quarter. For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, the Cockeysville-based company said its net income available to holders of common shares dropped 68 percent to $56.5 million, or 65 cents per diluted share, from $176.8 million, or $1.82 per diluted share, in the corresponding quarter of 1999.