As the Michigan gubernatorial campaign between Democrat Jennifer Granholm and Republican Dick DeVos gets nastier by the day, Eastern Michigan University professor Edward Sidlow, who studies American politics, notes that negative campaigns are as old as the Republic--and they can often be very effective. There are plenty of studies showing that this works, and "the negative messages simply make for better theater. Everybody gets some sort of perverse pleasure about hearing something gossipy or nasty about someone else," he says. Sidlow adds that we've lost sight of the fact that it is not new. In the presidential election …

The magazine business has done itself a lot of good since its last annual meeting, notes the trade magazine in its annual industry report card. But there is no time to brag; magazines need to find ways to win through their unavoidable struggles. "Everyone is going through a lot of change," says Nina Link, president-CEO of the Magazine Publishers of America. "It's kind of messy. It's very exciting. There's not a lot of rules. People are going to make mistakes. But in the past year, magazine publishers have been in the game and been in the game pretty deeply." The …

On TV, radio and through the mail, a blizzard of negative attack ads call U.S. congressional candidates cheats, extremist hypocrites--or even worse. In Missouri, an ad for Republican Sen. Jim Talent says his Democratic opponent "is a liar ... she'll cheat" to get elected. In Montana, the Democratic Senate candidate is labeled "deceitful," while an Arizona Republican House candidate is nailed as "so extreme and irresponsible he is dangerous." Linda Fowler, a political analyst at Dartmouth College, says the climate is getting nasty. Negative campaigning is a long tradition going back to when the founding fathers beat each other …

The Canadian province of Ontario will introduce legislation calling for a ban on advertising online gambling sites. According to Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips, the sites are illegal and thus shouldn't be advertised in the province. He also cites a recent study that suggests Internet gambling is up dramatically among Ontario's young adults. While traditional gambling is illegal under the country's Criminal Code, provinces have the right to operate lottery games, casinos and horse racing. But the legality of online casinos--run from servers based in foreign countries--is less clear. And some say banning advertising of online gaming sites will …

A black conservative group is under fire for a radio ad that claims the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. "We've gotten some e-mails and telephone calls filled with vitriol," says Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association. "They've called me Aunt Jemima, a sellout, a traitor to my race." But for Rev. Joseph Lowery, the former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which the slain civil-rights leader helped establish, the ad was an abomination. "To suggest that Martin could identify with a party that affirms preemptive, predatory war, and whose religious partners hint …

While its IPO filing offered little new information about the cable company's strategy or its growth projections, it did reveal that Time Warner Cable is extremely profitable for its parent, with 2005 net income of almost $1.3 billion. Time Warner typically doesn't break out the profits for each of its units when it reports its earnings, although it does provide a metric of its own making--"OIBDA"-which stands for operating income before depreciation and amortization for each of its movie, network, publishing, AOL and cable divisions. Still, Time Warner Cable had a standard measurement, too. Cable accounted for 43% of …

Colorado authorities have opened a criminal probe into whether an attack ad run by Republican Rep. Bob Beauprez against his opponent in the governor's race illegally used information from a federal law enforcement database. The spot at issue criticizes his opponent, Bill Ritter, a Democratic former district attorney, for seeking a plea deal in the case of an illegal immigrant arrested on charges of heroin trafficking. Ritter's campaign has suggested that the information was taken from computerized crime records. Use of the federal criminal database for any purpose other than law enforcement is a crime. But a spokesman for …

Sara Lee is taking its "Joy of Eating" ad campaign to Sirius Satellite Radio. A new partnership with Sirius centers on the Martha Stewart Living radio channel, and includes on-air advertising and a strong interactive presence. "The Joy of Eating" is another great example of a blue-chip advertiser, such as Sara Lee, using Sirius' national reach and one-of-a-kind programming to create a unique advertising opportunity," says Scott Greenstein, president of entertainment and sports for Sirius. During "Whatever with Alexis & Jennifer," a daily show on the channel, listeners are asked to submit their tastiest recipes using Sara Lee, along …

The hype around the launch of Vogue Living may have been overblown. Executives are insisting that the book is a special-interest publication that does not have a definite regular frequency, but its 500,000 rate base includes 300,000 copies that will be sent to Vogue subscribers with household incomes over $100,000, or a net worth of over $1 million, or a home valued at more than $500,000. For now, Vogue has scheduled only one additional edition for some time next year. And, according to a spokeswoman, "moving forward you will see different Vogue products. Some will be new launches; some …

Fear-mongering and mudslinging have become so common in political ads that voters tune out candidates' stances on issues--and the media only make the problem worse, according to some industry watchers. But there are also positive developments: the rise of online social networks and bloggers who take politicians to task in ways the mainstream media seldom do. At a recent Ad Club event, Arianna Huffington said that fear tactics are the easiest way to appeal to the electorate. "I'm not going to make any partisan comments," she told the audience. "But we all know who appealed on that level [in …