Much Ado About McEwen's Ad

The big news out of Rep. Jean Schmidt's campaign yesterday was that the radio ads of her GOP primary opponent, Bob McEwen, had been pulled. Here's an excerpt from the news release e-mailed to reporters:

2nd District - The McEwen campaign can't seem to get their act together. Their first attempt at advertising is riddled with inaccuracies and breaks federal law. "The ad must be immediately removed from the airwaves," said Allen Freeman of the Schmidt for Congress campaign.

McEwen's campaign released the ad late last week that, among other things, takes credit for the Contract with America. Bob McEwen had already lost two races for congress by the time Contract was unveiled in September 2004.

"Bob had lost in 1992 and the special election in 1993, but now he takes credit for the writing of the Contract--amazing. We will give him the point that he was in Virginia, but he was no where near the Contract with America."

The radio message lacks the required disclaimer indicating who paid for the advertisement. While it contains the BCRA disclaimer stating that McEwen approved the ad, he must also disclose who paid for the ad.

"This man has run for congress repeatedly for almost 20 years, you would think he would obey the rules, then again disclosure has never been his strong suit," Freeman concluded.

Is that true?

Well, sort of, said Michael Harlow, spokesman for the McEwen campaign said today. One of the stations running the ads wanted an additional disclaimer, explaining that the McEwen campaign paid for the ad, added to the spot. Once that was done, it was back up and on the air, Harlow said.

"There was absolutely no concern about the content of the ads," Harlow said.

But there's more:

"We’ve liked the response we’ve been getting on these ads so much that we’re increasing our buy," Harlow said.