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Legislative Issue Advertising in the 108th Congress Pluralism or Peril?

Johns Hopkins University, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,Washington, D.C. 20036; phone: 202-452-8711; erikafalk{at}jhu.edu

Erin Grizard

1819 Kilbourne Pl NW,Apt B,Washington, D.C. 20010; grizard{at}gmail.com

Gordon McDonald

Brookings Institution, Rm. 726, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036-2103; gmcdonald{at}brookings.edu

Legislative issue advertisements (also called "pure" issue ads) are ads about issues of public policy and not products or candidates. As such, they are not regulated under federal campaign finance laws. This study estimates the cost in air time and print space of legislative print and television issue ads that ran in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area during the 108th Congress.The authors identified 67,653 ads with an estimated cost of $404 million.The bulk of ad spending was concentrated among a small group of sponsors. One percent of organizations accounted for 57 percent of the total spending. Business interests outspent citizen/cause interests by more than five to one.All told, 94 percent of the specific issues examined were the subject of unbalanced persuasive efforts.The authors also analyzed spending in relation to reported lobbying expenditures. Results are interpreted in the context of traditional theories about the role of pluralism in insuring a healthy democracy.

Key Words: issue advertising • legislative issue ads • advocacy advertising • lobbying

The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Vol. 11, No. 4, 148-164 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1081180X06293080


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