Fredreka Schouten for USA Today:

Most election lawyers say Federal Election Commission rules banning coordination between candidates and outside groups apply narrowly to paid advertising. Coordinating with outside groups on ads before a candidate formally announces is the latest example of the ways the 2016 contest breaks new ground, they say.

“This doesn’t pass the smell test,” said Paul Ryan, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center watchdog group said of the pro-Kasich ad. “He was a candidate at the time he filmed this, even if he denied he was a candidate.”