The new request for an opinion in number 2008-15 does not yet appear to be on the FEC website yet. It asks if the radio ads, which discuss Sen. Obama’s position on abortion rights, would qualify for a WRTL exemption. One of the proposed ads (which can’t be paid for out of NRLC’s corporate treasury funds unless the exemption applies—otherwise, they’d have to be paid for through their PAC), ends with “Barack Obama, A Candidate Whose Words You Can’t Believe In.”
An ad that contains words of condemnation does not get the safe harbor of the WRTL exemption under the FEC regulations, but still could get an exemption under a totality of the circumstances approach. I discuss this question of WRTL and condemnatory ads here.
Meanwhile, in other Bopp lawsuit action, the Campaign Legal Center reports via email (no link yet) that “­­­­­­Today, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied a motion filed by The Real Truth About Obama (RTAO) requesting an injunction pending its appeal of a district court decision that denied RTAO preliminary relief in its challenge to several FEC regulations.”