High Court Unleashs Political Issue Ads

The Supreme Court this morning opened the floodgates for groups that run issue ads on the eve of elections. The 5-4 ruling stems from a 2004 case in Wisconsin where the local right-to-life group wanted to runs ads encouraging their senators (Democrat Russ Feingold was up for reelection) not to filibuster President Bush's judicial nominees. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance law prohibits ads in the two months before an election that surreptitiously attack candidates by highlighting their stands on issues, usually in a negative way.

This is very bad news for those of us who were hoping for an intelligent debate next year on health care reform. Candidates will be much less willing to go out on a limb with specific plans when they know every special interest group (can you say Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Doctors and Big Hospitals) can run unlimited attack ads in the months leading up to the election.