In Ohio, a Spotlight on Super PAC Ads

There was no escaping the blizzard of negative television and radio advertising assaulting the eyes and ears of Buckeyes in the run-up to Super Tuesday. Consider this: the super PACs supporting front-runners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, as well as Newt Gingrich, dumped some $4 million into pre-primary (and predominantly negative) advertising in Ohio, far out-spending the campaigns themselves (including $1.2 million from the Romney camp and $500,000 from Santorum’s campaign). This spending spree is no surprise, really, considering that Ohio was the crown jewel of Super Tuesday’s ten state primaries. Not to mention that no Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio. It’s also no surprise, in today’s world of down-and-dirty politics, that amidst this ad deluge Ohioans have been subjected to some deceptive claims. What might actually be surprising is that while TV stations are generally obligated to accept ads from candidates for public office, they can refuse to air misleading ads from Super PACs and other third-party groups. Enter “Stand By Your Ad,” an effort—recently launched by FlackCheck.org, a sister site to Annenberg Public Policy Center’s well-known FactCheck.org—to push back against deceptive third-party ads.