Ad Wars Continue

James Joyner | Wednesday, June 9, 2004

NYT — Cease-Fire Fails to Hold [RSS]

More trouble on the presumed freeze on campaigning by the Bush and Kerry teams during this week of mourning Ronald Reagan.

Aides to President Bush announced that they were shocked to learn that an independent Democratic political organization, the Media Fund, was running an advertisement questioning contracts that the Pentagon issued to Halliburton, the company Vice President Dick Cheney once headed.

“Now it seems Halliburton has been price gouging, and overcharged the federal government $27 million for meals they never served to our troops and $61 million for gasoline,” the announcer in the advertisement says.

Mr. Bush’s strategists cried foul, noting that Mr. Kerry’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter, had made a point of saying that Mr. Kerry was canceling his campaign appearances in deference to the death of the former president.

Ms. Cutter responded by noting that the fund, known as a 527 after a section of the tax code that covers such advocacy groups, operates completely independently of the Kerry campaign.

“Have they not read the campaign finance laws?” Ms. Cutter inquired. “The campaign finance laws prevent the John Kerry for President campaign from coordinating with 527’s. Which means we have no idea what’s up on the air, nor do we have any control of it.”

A spokesman for the Media Fund, Jim Jordan, similarly dismissed the Bush camp’s complaints. “We’re not remotely interested in the whining and crying of the most relentlessly negative and demonstrably dishonest campaign in modern political history,” he said.

Heh. So much for lowering the volume.

Hat tip: Taegan Goddard

Update: Megan McArdle thinks this may have a Paul Wellstone backlash.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

Follow James on FriendFeed | Twitter | Digg

• None Found

• SNL Obama China Skit
• Journalistic Ethics and Illegally Acquired Documents
• National Debt Hysteria?
• Educating Illegal Immigrants
• Caption Contest
• Nathalie Blanchard Facebook Smile Leaves Her Depressed
• Glenn Beck, Community Organizer
• OTB Latenight – Cherry Poppin’ Daddies
• Hacked Climate Scientists Emails Reveal Truth
• Obama, the Recession, and Polls

Tags | Campaign 2004

| | Permalink | Send TrackBack

 

Jim Jordan - was John Kerry's '04 election campaign manager until November 2003.

Jim Jordan - Spokesman for the Media Fund.

“Have they not read the campaign finance laws?” Ms. Cutter inquired. “The campaign finance laws prevent the John Kerry for President campaign from coordinating with 527’s. Which means we have no idea what’s up on the air, nor do we have any control of it.”

I guess THEY haven't read the campaign finance laws.

---

Posted by Joel Gaines | June 9, 2004 | 11:18 am | Permalink

 

RSS feed for these comments.

Comments are Closed