EDWARDSVILLE — Angela Michael said Tuesday her first move as a candidate for Congress in Illinois' new 15th District will be to run a campaign commercial — during the Super Bowl pregame show -- that is likely to offend many voters.
The spot will feature dismembered fetuses.
But if some viewers find the commercial distasteful or revolting, that's OK, said Michael, a longtime anti-abortion activist from Highland who says that her run for office is serious.
"We just want a crisis of their conscience," Michael said during a news conference Tuesday in Edwardsville to announce her candidacy.
Being a congressional candidate will allow her to run campaign advertisements that that the media might otherwise refuse to run. Federal Communications Commission rules require broadcasters to accept any advertisements from congressional candidates, as long as the ads are paid for, and they're within a certain window of time before an election, and they don't make libelous claims against another candidate.
The advertising tactic has been used a few times in the past by other anti-abortion activists, but this year there's more of a concerted effort to take advantage of the FCC rules, according to Randall Terry, founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. Terry, who joined Michael at her news conference, is running for president -- and also is airing campaign commercials with dismembered fetuses.
Michael said her media buyer was meeting Tuesday with sales staff from KSDK, the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, for the purchase of pregame commercials which she said will cost $2,000 per airing. The spots will air locally, not network-wide. She said she also will buy pregame spots in the Champaign-Decatur market.
The total ad buy will depend on how much her campaign receives in donations. "The more donations we get, the more that goes toward the ads," she said.
Read the complete story at bnd.com