TV advertising.

There is a new advertising rule within the Federal Campaign Finance Law that requires TV advertisers to read a disclaimer and actually appear in the ad themselves. The advertisers are complying reluctantly, but opponents of the rule have hired First Amendment expert Floyd Abrams to fight it. The rule applies to some of the best known people in the country.

Has The Florida Bar just passed a new advertising rule? No, but these regulations are as arcane and useless as The Florida Bar's advertising rules. You see, there is a little known provision of the new Federal Campaign Finance Law that requires candidates--even President Bush--to acknowledge, within the commercial itself, that they are responsible for the content of the ads. They must personally appear in the ad for 80 percent of the commercial. Like The Florida Bar's advertising rules, it protects no one and inhibits the free speech rights of the advertisers. More importantly, these rules insult...