My Opinion on 527's

I heard an interesting piece on NPR regarding the 527 ads, and I agreed with what the reporter had to say. His belief is that, since 527 groups are acting outside the grasp of the parties, they are able to make more ridiculous and outlandish claims. The ads sponsored by the parties have a tendancy to be more tame because they want to appeal to a broad range of voters. Additionally, party sponsored ads are more accurate than 527 ads. It seems that the campaign finance regulations have exacerbated some of the problems they were attempting to fix.

The reporter also believed that extreme 527 ads on both sides have the effect of pushing voters away from the candidate they are trying to help because most viewers hold more moderate views than the advertisements. I don't know if this is true or not.