Ads by 527 Groups and the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election

Abstract

With the emergence of newly legislated 527 groups and their barrage of television attack ads against each major party candidate, the landscape of the U.S. presidential election changed markedly in 2004. Although these special interest groups—named after the amendment to the U.S. Federal Tax Code that authorized them—seem to function as political action committees, the lack of federal regulation allows 527 groups more latitude in ad content and opaqueness of ad sponsorship. The extant literature on the increasing effectiveness of negative political advertising suggests the relative efficacy of the promotional tactics used by 527 groups. After a discussion of the select 527 group ads run during 2004, the future regulation of 527 groups is broached.