Buying Time 2000: Television Advertising in the 2000 Federal Elections

Summarizes a study of political television advertising in the 2000 federal primaries and elections with a focus on the use of the issue ad loophole to evade campaign finance laws. Questions the standard used to differentiate issue ads from election ads

Checking the fact-checkers in 2008: predicting political ad scrutiny and assessing consistency

Which types of political ads are most likely to draw criticism from fact-checkers? Are fact-checkers consistent in their evaluations of political ads? Examining general election television ads from the 2008 U.S. presidential race, and based upon the evaluations of FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com, and the Washington Post's Fact Checker, this study demonstrates it was the attack ads from candidates that were most likely to draw scrutiny from the fact-checkers. Most importantly, a high level of agreement between the fact-checkers indicates their success at selecting political claims that can be consistently evaluated. While political advertisers are increasingly using evidence to support their claims, what may be more critical in drawing evaluations from fact-checkers is the verifiability of a claim. The implications of consistent fact-checking on the public, political actors, journalism and democracy are discussed. With the revelation that fact-checking can be consistently practiced, localized efforts at fact-checking need encouragement, particularly as political TV ads increasingly drown out other potential sources of information for the public and increasingly are used in downballot races, local initiatives, referendums and judicial races

Running a traditional ‘textbook’ campaign, Rob Portman has a commanding lead in Ohio’s Senate race, in spite of Donald Trump.

As part of our series covering key Senate races in the 2016 election, Tom Sutton and Barbara Palmer take a close look at Ohio’s election, where former Governor Ted Strickland is challenging the incumbent Republican Senator Rob Portman. While Portman was initially considered to be vulnerable, he is now nearly 15 percentage points ahead of Strickland, a lead which may be down to the GOP Senator’s superior fundraising and the funding of attack ads by outside campaign groups

Investing in the People's Business: A Business Proposal for Campaign Finance Reform

Since the release of this landmark report, the debate over the way American elections are financed has fundamentally changed. CED successfully demonstrated that business leaders support reform and representatives of the business community became prominent and outspoken advocates for reform for the first time because of CED's work. Investing in the People's Business calls for specific changes in U.S. campaign finance laws to enhance electoral competition, stem the flow of unregulated money, and shift financial influence from organized interests to individual voters and small contributors. Major recommendations include a ban on soft money; an increase from $1,000 to$3,000 on contribution limits to candidates and $2 for$1 public matching funds on small donations for candidates who adhere to spending limits. Over 300 CED Trustees and business leaders across the country have endorsed CED's recommendations to reform the campaign finance laws and have played an instrumental role in the successful effort to pass significant reform legislation