Will Businesses Buy Election Ads?

Get ready for more political ads during the breaks of your favorite shows: Business and labor unions are gearing up to play a larger role in the 2010 elections after the Supreme Court struck down elements of campaign-finance reform on Thursday. Under the new rules, business and unions can spend unlimited money on advertisements on behalf of candidates, so long as they don’t coordinate with candidates’ campaigns directly. However, some think that corporations will be leery of weighing in. "Corporations historically have been leery to get involved in races," said Michael Toner, a former Federal Election Commission chairman. "Now they have a constitutional right to advertise when they want and to say anything they want. The question is: Will they?”