John McCain was a major player in campaign finance reform. The McCain-Feingold Act, ironically, is coming back to haunt him. Political Action Committees (PACs) are allowed under the new regulations, provided that the committees do not coordinate with any campaign receiving federal funds. There are no limits as to how much a PAC can spend, and their messages tend to be much edgier than a candidate would allow.
Recently, several PACs entered the campaign in a nasty way. First up was new organization, BornAliveTruth.org. Gianna Jessen is an abortion survivor and now, at age 31, speaks out as part of the prolife cause. She is the new face of the PAC’s ads, which spotlight Obama’s votes against an act in Illinois that would protect babies who survive abortions.
Obama’s campaign immediately responded, wrongly claiming the McCain campaign was behind them and that several newpapers had called the ads sleazy. Several outlets had called McCain’s ads sleazy – but this wasn’t a McCain ad.
The liberal left has its share of attack PACs, and one seems to be targeting McCain’s past cancer diagnosis. Brave New PAC and Democracy for America sponsored the ads, which feature close ups of McCain’s cancer scars. McCain was diagnosed with melanoma in 2000 and had surgery on his face.
Many politicians felt these ads went beyond the pale, and Obama raced to distance himself. Unfortunately, one of the PACs involved is headed by DNC Chairman Howard Dean’s brother, and now several conservatives are calling for the Federal Election Committee to look into it.
With friends like that, who needs enemies?
There are just over 5 weeks to go until Election Day, and we can expect to see PACs ramp up the vitriolic mudslinging in days to come. Just when it seems they’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel, another, worse ad comes out.
