Political Attack Ads Already Popping Up on the Web
WASHINGTON — As the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns pound each other through television commercials, some of their strategists are looking beyond channel surfers to an audience that may be ready for a new wave of political advertising: Web surfers.
Online industry experts estimate politicians will spend $25 million this year on online ads in federal, state and local campaigns.
That's a tiny fraction of the $1.3 billion or more projected for television spending. But several factors point to growth in online political ads: an expanding number of Internet users, wider use of the medium by major commercial advertisers and incentives built into federal law.
The 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law placed sharp limits on using campaign donations to pay for broadcast TV and radio ads, especially in the two months before an election. But the law was silent on the use of large checks from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals -- contributions known as "soft money" -- to finance Internet ads. In a possible harbinger of future e-campaigns, visitors to websites such as Music.com, Accuweather.com and TVGuide.com in recent days have been greeted by one of the year's first online political attacks.
The banner and pop-up ads placed by the Republican National Committee on about 1,400 sites starting March 19 attacked presumptive Democratic nominee John F. Kerry for his vote last year against spending $87 billion for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kerry has said he supported a version of the reconstruction bill that would have offset the price tag by rolling back tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. The ads allowed viewers to click to a transcript and video from a Sunday talk show in which the Massachusetts senator was grilled about the vote.
"It's one more way to reach out to voters, but it's a very new medium," said RNC spokeswoman Christine Iverson. "We're on the frontier right now of figuring out how to use the Internet effectively for political communications."
Last year, several Democratic presidential contenders experimented with online ads. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina promoted his advocacy of abortion rights and clean air in October on several news websites, including WashingtonPost.com and CNN.com.
In addition to online ad purchases, campaigns are increasingly using e-mail to communicate with activists and raise money, following trails blazed last year by former candidate Howard Dean.
