The Ad Wars: Super PACs not super? Not so fast

[Commentary] The Wall Street Journal reached a bold conclusion on one of the central debates of the 2012 elections: “Super PAC Influence Falls Short of Aims,” declared its front page, above-the-fold headline. “The flood of spending doesn’t appear to have significantly influenced voter opinion in key states in the presidential contest,” the story asserted. But what the story didn’t provide was evidence to support its central claim: that super PACs were not having a substantial influence on voter opinion. Instead, it relied almost entirely upon a circular premise: Conservative super PACs have spent heavily on the presidential race in certain states, and Mitt Romney has performed poorly in polls in these states, so therefore the super PACs have failed to influence voters. It ain’t necessarily so. “You can’t say his failure to close the gap shows the ads aren’t effective,” said Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute and a political science professor at SUNY Albany. “They’re running ads at a time when the candidate is off in London putting his foot in his mouth.”