Interest Versus Express Advocacy?
The bright-line test doesn't cover forms of communication that are indirect or debatable. Consider this message to voters:
- If you like candidate X, you need to know he did Y.
In a communication like this, there is no mention about voting, however, the plain intention is to cast doubt on voters that supported candidate X.
Campaigning like this is typically called negative campaigning, making attack ads, or making thinly veiled promotional ads on the behalf of the candidate.
Read more about this topic: Issue Advocacy Ads
Famous quotes containing the words interest and/or express:
“I cannot assent to a measure which stains our credit. We must keep that untainted. We are a debtor nation. Low rates of interest on the vast indebtedness we must carry for many years, is the important end to be kept in view. Expediency and justice both demand honest coinage.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“I ... have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist when I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)