Talent finds McCaskill ad problem

    When a hotly-contested political campaign starts debating about advertising rates and it's not even Labor Day, Bette Davis probably said it best in "All About Eve":

   "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."   

    Less than three weeks before the race really gets into gear, Sen. Jim Talent's re-election campaign sent letters Monday to two radio stations alleging that his Democratic rival, Claire McCaskill, had violated federal election law and shouldn't enjoy the break on ad rates normally given to candidates.

    Talent alleges that on her radio ads on KMJK-FM in the Kansas City area and on three St. Louis stations, McCaskill's disclaimers at the end don't include the name of the office she's seeking - the U.S. Senate. They do include her name and that she approves of the ad.

    But to get the advertising discount, the Talent camp claims that federal election law requires that McCaskill state what she's running for. The campaign also claims that she  didn't submit written certification that her ads mention her opponent - him. Federal law requires that to get the cost break, his campaign said.   

    Talent spokesman Rich Chrismer said the letters speak for themselves.

    McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said the campaign was looking into it.

    "Essentially, the law was followed," she said. "It was very clear who paid for the ads, which was the important part of that disclaimer. Ultimately, this was a minor mistake."

    As far as the costs, Marsh said if McCaskill has to go back and pay the full amount for the ads, that's what she'll do.

     She noted that Republican Sen. Kit Bond, a strong Talent supporter, faced a similar problem when he ran for re-election in 2004. Bond had to pull down ads from about 50 radio stations because his disclaimers didn't identify who paid for them.

Posted by David Goldstein       

Comments

[Political Moderate]

Another "minor" mistake.
Claire, do something with this staff you've assembled. This is giving everyone second thoughts.

I'm beginning to wonder if Claire hired the same staffers Jean Carnahan used when she made her unsuccessful Senate bid. I don't think I've ever seen so many "kids" whose arrogance were surpassed only by their utter lack of skills.

[southerngirl]

You can call it minor but you if you screw up now, what about later....tsk tsk Claire needs to get her house in order...and don't go screaming about the gop complaining, because if Talent did it, it would be front page neww. Claire's mistakes are going to cost her an election.

[smartie]

another mistake by mccaskill's team......it appears to be amateur hour over there.

i am sure she will find a way to blame it on the farm bureau.....

[smartie]

another mistake by mccaskill's team......it appears to be amateur hour over there.

i am sure she will find a way to blame it on the farm bureau.....

[tomcat]

ONE WORD: EMBARASSING

[southerngirl]

LOL smartie I am sorry but taht brought a smile to my face and I had to tell you

[Dan]

Stupid mistake, and one she should be upset about. Not quite as stupid as voting for Jim Talent, the Ladue lapdog, but stupid nonetheless.

[Roy T]

C'mon, Claire. Even I wouldn't have made that kind of mistake.......

[KCDEM]

if she keeps this up we are going to lose

[KCDEM]

where is Ladue???

[alison]

okay, first of all, her opponent was william jefferson something-or-other. not jim talent. sencondly, it was before the primary. she was running in a primary race. not the general. get off your high horses.

[tsquare]

Stupid?

Sure.

The real pain though is two things:

One, the McCaskill campaign is now wasting the one thing they have in shorter supply than Talent does…money. How many less ads will they have the money for if they have to go back and pay for the mistakes?

And second, as some have said already, this points back to again the difference in the quality of the campaigns. “Man-for-man” the Talent team is just chewing up Team McCaskill…in the end it might not matter that much if the two ‘quarterbacks’ are evenly matched or even if (I can’t believe I’m saying this) McCaskill is a little better…she’ll never get the message out.

I’ve said this many times before….we in this country have these things called elections…Democrats don’t seem to be able to win many of them. They must figure this all out or we will be a one-party nation.

Not that I’d mind so much, but still…

[LadueLovely]

Isn't Ladue where's Claire's $6 million monstrosity of a modern house is?? I haven't seen it but I've heard it's a monument to all that is nouveau riche.

[tsquare]

I believe you are correct.

Democrats don't like to be reminded that their candidate has much more family money then the GOP guy.

Talent BTW lives in Chesterfield...a 'nice' house to be sure but nothing like Claires

[dh]

Clair pack it in you don't have a prayer against Talent. Lack of Money and since you blew the Gov. job trying to grab another job any where is not the smartest thing too do .

[Ralph]

Talent has nothing to run on so he whines about junk like this -- what a loser!

[Mindy]

Um, what's the big deal? Looks like Talent is nit-picking over minor things because he is desperate. Not attractive at all. I agree. He is a loser and it's time to throw out these bums who have trashed America's reputation all over the world. Talent is a Bush/Cheney/Rummy clone -- time to end this regime.

If it was Talent's team that made the mistake, I am sure Claire and the Democrats would be nit-picking or whinning, too. It is a political campaign, whinning is what goes on. The difference is that Talent's campaign, so far, has been paying attention to the small details. This the second slip up in less than a week for Claire. Both should have been EASILY prevented. Now until November, everyone will be watching both Claire & Jim's every move. Sure the Farm Bureau always goes Republican... you still make an effort to show up. You can't give them the opportunity to turn it into a bigger deal than it should be. This is politcs... everything you do will be spun to the other candidates advantage. It isn't whinning or nit-picking... it is just BUSINESS.

[Chris]

If it was Talent's team that made the mistake, I am sure Claire and the Democrats would be nit-picking or whinning, too. It is a political campaign, whinning is what goes on. The difference is that Talent's campaign, so far, has been paying attention to the small details. This the second slip up in less than a week for Claire. Both should have been EASILY prevented. Now until November, everyone will be watching both Claire & Jim's every move. Sure the Farm Bureau always goes Republican... you still make an effort to show up. You can't give them the opportunity to turn it into a bigger deal than it should be. This is politcs... everything you do will be spun to the other candidates advantage. It isn't whinning or nit-picking... it is just BUSINESS.

[Chris]

Sorry, hit enter before putting my name on the first one.

[Max]

Clearly these are the kind of issues Missourians care about - whether or not Claire McCaskill states what office she is running for.

Grasping......at.......straws.......

[Grant Moritz]

Talents team is spending all it's time trying to find falts in McCaskill campaign. This is just another low tactic by the Talent, and he should be worrying about running his own camp.

[Political Moderate]

Grant, unfortunately I suspect Talent's crew isn't doing anything but glowing.
Claire's staff is repeatedly showing their butts in this campaign. Enough is enough.
If Claire doesn't take control of this Kool-Aid stand, that some call a campaign staff---the election is over.

[bud]

Why don't they just give Talent the seat back hes going to win against Clair, the only vote shes going to get is Minority and Liberals .