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[Me#1You#10]

In Battle of 527 Groups, Conservatives Do More With Less
By John Carlisle
CNSNews.com Commentary
November 24, 2004

Much has been made of the unprecedented sum of money spent by the presidential campaigns and political advocacy groups on the 2004 presidential election. But as liberals found out, what's important is not so much the amount of money spent, but how it is spent.

A critical component of the Democratic Party's strategy was an amalgam of 527 committees. Named after a section of the IRS tax code, a 527 group can accept unlimited donations for spending on ads, voter mobilization efforts and other activities as long as it doesn't directly coordinate with a political party or candidate.

While Republican campaign committees raised more money than Democrat party groups - $558 million vs. $452 million - the liberal 527 committees more than leveled the fundraising playing field. Of the $464 million raised by 527s, the overwhelming majority went to Democratic-leaning groups.

The top three groups - the Joint Victory Campaign 2004, America Coming Together, and the Media Fund - spent more than $175 million. The Media Fund spent $50 million on radio and TV ads while America Coming Together raised $125 million for voter mobilization efforts. They were joined by other liberal 527s, giving the Democrats a near-monopoly on the 527 market.

By contrast, the conservative Progress for America Voter Fund, the largest of the pro-GOP 527s, raised just $38 million. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth raised $26 million.

But it was the under-funded Republican-leaning 527s that carried the day. They did so by simply producing ads that made the biggest impact on voters. According to election night surveys by GOP pollsters, nearly 75 percent of voters said they were familiar with the Swift Boat TV ad that featured Kerry's fellow Vietnam veterans questioning Kerry's military service.

Public Opinion Strategies found that voters in six battleground states were strongly influenced by three ads - all pro-Bush or anti-Kerry. In addition to the Swift Boat ads, they included "Wolves," a TV ad produced by the Bush campaign using the image of a wolf pack to symbolize the terrorist threat; and the "Ashley" TV ad produced by the Progress for America Voter Fund.

"Ashley" may very well have been the year's most poignant ad. Progress for America Voter Fund spent $16 million buying TV time for the ad in the decisive closing weeks. It showed President Bush locked in a tearful embrace with Ashley Faulkner, an Ohio teenager whose mother was killed in the September 11 attack.

After that moving scene, Ashley tells the camera, "He's the most powerful man in the world, and all he wants to do is make sure I'm safe, that I'm OK."

Despite a huge fundraising advantage, the Democratic 527s never produced an ad that was as emotionally riveting and memorable. Said Kerry campaign advisor David Thorne, "The only three ads remembered by voters were all Republican ads - and that was after we spent over $100 million on advertising."

Meanwhile, liberal 527s were content to spend their money on aggressive ads that may have pleased the Democratic base but did little to move swing voters.

In late October, the Media Fund released a radio ad falsely claiming that the Bush White House, at the behest of the Saudi royal family, allowed members of the bin Laden family to fly out of the country right after the 9/11 attack when most commercial air traffic was grounded.

The ad charged that because of this alleged conspiracy between Bush and the Saudis, U.S. intelligence may have been robbed of a golden opportunity to detain the bin Laden family and "find Osama bin Laden." The nonpartisan Annenberg Public Policy Center called this anti-Bush radio ad "among the worst distortions we've seen in what has become a very ugly campaign."

Ultimately, the Saudi ad may well have turned-off more swing voters than it turned-on. So in the end, the Republican-leaning 527s got more bang for their buck than the Democratic-leaning ones. Raising lots of money in political campaigns is one thing. But if it is not spent wisely, it can do more harm than good.

John Carlisle is Director of Policy at the National Legal and Policy Center.

Cybercast News Service

[MSeeger]

It's a pity that the Democratic Party hasn't learned its lesson. With the racist tone of the attacks on Dr. Rice, they only dig themselves deper and deeper into the muck.

Too much hate was what did the Democrats in. That hate is still there. Pity they won't listen to reason.

Maria
_________________
Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Gal. 6:7

[mach9]

Thank GOD for 527s! Without them, McCain-Feingold would have allowed Mcluhan and MSM to reign supreme; with them, it was the message, not the medium.

[gmez2001]