On Inside Politics yesterday, Hotline editor Chuck Todd says the Bush/Cheney campaign found a loophole in political advertising restrictions passed as part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill:
"Well when the Bush/Cheney reelect team -- everybody's been wondering if the sitting president of the United States is going to have to utter the phrase 'I approved of this message' because of such and such.
"Well, there is nothing that says that Cheney can't be the person that says that, that the running mate -- there's no part of the law. So there's speculation that maybe on the negative ads that Bush/Cheney pays for that you may have the vice president voice it over because you don't -- the thing that all media strategists will say when your running an incumbent's reelection is you don't want to have the incumbent president in particular look negative.
"And maybe this is a way for them to run a negative ad without the president looking negative. But we'll see if someone tries it." (via PoliPundit)
But Mickey Kaus has a plan for Bush: "Have Cheney appear in a really vicious set of negative ads. Then (once Kerry's eviscerated) have Cheney leave the ticket! Away goes all the bad karma. Replace Cheney with a sunny optimist!"
Update: Rick Hasen responds: "On the original question involving Cheney, my quick perusal of the FECA did not find anything directly speaking to the question. The FECA certainly contemplates treating the president and vice president as a single unit for purposes of establishing political committees, etc."
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