Blair Hull’s ads (I’ve only caught them on the net, but they are playing in St. Louis metro) have an interesting feature,
Apparently, all federal candidates are going to have to do what Democratic U.S. Senate contender BLAIR HULL is doing in his television ads – saying that he authorized the messages.
In a 30-second ad about how he wants to create jobs in Illinois, Hull says on screen: "I’m Blair Hull, and I approved this ad because we need to get Illinois back to work."
Hull is doing it because of new FEC regs requiring,
Part of that law requires that a candidate-sponsored TV ad "must include a statement that identifies the candidate and states that he or she has approved the communication. The candidate shall convey the statement either:
(A) Through an unobscured, full-screen view of himself or herself making the statement, or
(B) Through a voice-over by himself or herself, accompanied by a clearly identifiable photographic or similar image of the candidate."
The interesting question is will negative ads be as easy to run? It’s hard to say, but candidates usually want as little identification with a negative ad as possible to avoid association with negatives. I mean it won’t stop the Patrick O’Malley’s of the world, but he is entertaining at least.