Political Advertising

Grant Johnson, a 49-year-old traffic engineer who lives in the Sierra foothill town of Coarsegold, passionately supports Proposition 8, which would amend the state Constitution to ban gay marriage. In past elections, Johnson might have written a letter to the editor about his views. This year, he had a better idea. He made a video and put it up on YouTube.

The National Rifle Assn. is turning up the volume in its campaign against Barack Obama, airing more ads about his record on guns. Starting as early as Sunday, new spots will air in battlegrounds including Ohio, Virginia and Florida. The NRA already has spots in Colorado, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. Some use Obama's line, uttered at a San Francisco fundraiser, about "bitter" people clinging to their guns.

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. and his inflammatory sermon have surfaced in an ad attacking Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, but it's not clear how widely it will air. Conservative consultants Sal Russo and Joe Wierzbicki of Sacramento and former California Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian teamed up to produce the spot, which asserts, "Barack Obama seems to have different values from most Americans."

Major League Baseball agreed Wednesday to delay the start of a World Series game by about 15 minutes to make room for a television commercial that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama plans to run Oct. 29. That would be the date for Game 6 of the baseball championship, if a sixth game is necessary. Obama's campaign this month negotiated to buy the same half-hour of prime time -- from 8 to 8:30 p.m. EDT that night -- on CBS and NBC.

After raising nearly $4 million at a gala hosted Tuesday by billionaire Ron Burkle, foes of an initiative to ban same-sex marriage have significantly increased their television advertising, prompting the measure's backers to scramble for more money. Spending on Proposition 8 is fast approaching $60 million, making it by far the most costly ballot measure anywhere in the country this year. Backers of the constitutional amendment said they have been outspent this week by more than $2.6 million on television and radio, although they have raised more money than the opposition during most of the campaign.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's half-hour campaign commercial is scheduled to run tonight on all of the major television networks -- except ABC. The senator from Illinois this month arranged to buy tonight's 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. slot on CBS, NBC and Spanish-language network Univision. Fox Broadcasting joined the field after Major League Baseball agreed to delay the start time of tonight's World Series game. Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC, however, initially balked at selling its 8 p.m.

Barack Obama's 30-minute campaign commercial Wednesday night was not merely a tactical decision to carpet-bomb millions of Americans in pursuit of a few thousand undecided voters who can dictate the outcome of the presidential campaign. Aired on seven network and cable stations, the ad served as a national get-out-the-vote organizing tool for Obama operatives.

Speaking out recently against Proposition 8, the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown made an appeal for the importance of protecting the rights of same-sex couples. And then he urged his audience to vote yes on the proposition. Brown misspoke. He intended to advocate a no vote. But he isn't alone in confusing which side is which.

The contentious fight over a Beverly Hills ballot measure has taken a strange turn with an advertisement in a local newspaper suggesting that a staunch opponent of the Beverly Hilton's proposed expansion had switched sides. But Councilwoman Nancy Krasne said she never changed her position and called the ad "despicable." The dispute centers around a note Krasne wrote to a Hilton executive.

The Supreme Court set the stage Friday for striking down a part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that bars the broadcast of corporate and union-funded ads just prior to an election. Three years ago, the justices narrowly upheld the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002 and its rule against corporate-funded broadcast ads, which was adopted to prevent powerful interests from using their money to sway elections in the final weeks of a campaign.