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I know that the fairness doctrine is long gone, but I don't understand how a radio talk show can devote hours to Republican candidates and not have it be considered an in-kind contribution.
This morning, Milwaukee squawker Charlie Sykes had Russ Feingold's opponent, the scary Tim Michels, on his show. The purpose was to discuss the fact that the RNC pulled about $1 million in promised support from his campaign. The discussion was the usual: the liberal media is playing this up to make my campaign look bad; the polls are wrong; Feingold is out of the mainstream. You know... the usual.
Of course, the RNC pulled out because Michels is such a loon that even Bush Republicans are voting for Feingold. That said, Michels got 1/2 hour of free air time to campaign on the state's biggest radio station. That doesn't include the 3-5 hours, 5 days a week devoted to bashing Democrats and supporting Republicans.
If I give raw materials to a candidate to turn into brochures or lawn signs, that's counted as an in-kind contribution. Is talk radio insulated from this??
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