University
of Wisconsin began tracking and analyzing political advertisements in early
January to collect data that will be used in a one-of-a-kind national political
research project.

UW
political science professor Ken Goldstein is again heading the Wisconsin
Advertising Project, which has tracked and coded political advertising data
since 2000.

As in the
past, the project is partnered with Taylor Nelson Sofres Media Intelligence, a
provider of marketing information. TNS will provide the project with
storyboards and transcriptions of the 2008 federal and gubernatorial television
advertisements that run in America?s 100 largest markets.

According
to Goldstein, the role of the Wisconsin Advertising Project is to code and
analyze all political ads. The ads will be analyzed, in real time, for their
content, target audience, tone, time and the television program during which
they are broadcast.

The
information and findings of the project will be made public in a series of
press releases throughout the year leading up to the elections.

The
project will be operating with the aid of a $298,945 grant from the Joyce
Foundation. Joyce Foundation Vice President Lawrence Hansen said he believes
the project will be important for dealing with campaign finance reform.

?We hope
it will generate the kind of information policy makers will need down the
road,? Hansen said.

Mary
O?Connell, the Joyce Foundation?s director of communication, said the project
provides essential information for analyzing the relationship between local
news coverage of state government candidates and the amount of advertisements
about them. According to O?Connell, the project is a great way to tell ?whether
citizens are getting good solid information about state governments.?

Hansen
said the Joyce Foundation is particularly interested in the project because
many political advertisements will be aired in Midwest states.

According
to Goldstein and Hansen, the information provided by the project this year will
be especially important. There is expected to be a record number of political
advertisements because of recent, highly controversial court rulings
surrounding the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law of 2002.

?There is
going to be an incredible amount of interest group advertising and a lot of
litigation and, if the past is any indication, our data will be very
important,? Goldstein said.

The
McCain-Feingold law strictly limited corporations and unions from running
advertisements supporting specific federal candidates within 60 days of a
general election and 30 days of a primary.

However,
Wisconsin Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, won a 2006 Supreme Court case
that ruled the law violated their freedom of speech and now allows special
interest groups to run ads dealing with political issues.

Mike
McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the ruling
allows special interest groups to run ?phony issue ads? that endorse specific
candidates. McCabe also said these issue ads are actually ?electioneering being
engaged in outside of campaign spending limits.?

According
to McCabe, this loophole commercializes the First Amendment by allowing only
those who can afford 30-second television spots to have their opinions heard.

?It allows
the rich to do almost all the talking,? McCabe said. ?It changes the First
Amendment from a right to a paid privilege.?

McCabe
added this is an affront to true democracy. He said while the Wisconsin
Advertising Project is a useful tool, it is not the answer to the problem.

?It is a
positive step toward truth in campaigning because it can help people learn
more, but it still doesn?t change the law,? McCabe said.

Goldstein
endorsed neither side of the argument when interviewed by The Badger Herald. ?I
try and just provide the data,? he said.