From an AlterNet Story, back in 2003:
"Back in the 1970s, political reformers targeted airtime as a place to economize on campaign costs. A federal law was enacted requiring stations to give candidates the lowest "unit rate" -- the cheapest price for broadcast time available, including any discount offered by stations to their best customers.
Sounds great -- but then a loophole opened that could be called the "consultants protection act." If a commercial advertiser, or another candidate, is willing to pay the regular rate, you and your puny political rate get bumped. To avoid getting preempted in this manner, candidates can pay as much as five times more than the political rate."
How does this affect the NC-08 and NC-11 races, which have been ranked in the top 50 races in the country?
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