From WNYKR's in New York, this is NPR's On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. This week, a new political ad campaign was launched in 17 battleground states.

The ads were produced by the Media Fund, a Democratic group unaffiliated with the Democratic National Committee.

Since the media fund is supported by soft money,

big donations from unions, corporations, and millionaires, and so on,

under the new campaign finance reform law,

its commercials are supposed to confine themselves to issues.

They're not supposed to call for the election or defeat

of a candidate for national office.

What do you think?

President Bush, remember the American dream?

It's about hope, not fear.

It's about more jobs at home, not tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas.

It's about giving our children their chance, not our debt.

It's about providing health care for people, not just profits. It's about fighting

for the middle class, not special interests. George Bush's priorities are eroding the American dream.

It's time to take our country back from corporate greed and make America work for every American.

Democratic groups like the Media Fund have been established as 527s. That's shorthand for the

provision of the tax law that governs them. Now, they say they're operating entirely within the law.

The Bush-Cheney campaign disagrees, and the groups are facing legal scrutiny by the Federal

Election Commission. We're joined now by media consultant Carl Struble.

Welcome to the show.

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