Independent candidate backed by mystery internet campaign in Dist. 1 nail-biter

If Independent candidate Glenn Wilson garners enough votes to be an important factor in the tight Dist. 1 Congressional race, it may be in part due to an Internet advertising campaign with unknown backers.

According to campaign manager Mark Hickey, WilsonForCongress.com is receiving significant traffic from Google ads, sponsored links that refer Dist. 1 internet searchers to the Wilson campaign site when they use keywords such as “independent,” “liberty,““smaller government,” or “Tea Party.”

“We had nothing to do with any of this,” Hickey said. “But I’ll take all the free advertising we can get.”

With less than a week before the election Republican Dan Benishek and Democrat Gary McDowell are in a statistical dead heat in the fight to replace longtime Representative Bart Stupak (D-Menominee). The Democrats are fighting hard to retain this seat. Until recently it seemed very likely that the Republicans would take it back.

An EPIC/MRA poll commissioned by the Detroit Free Press last week gave Benishek and McDowell 42 and 40 percent of the vote respectively. The poll showed Glenn Wilson with 8 percent and 10 percent of voters still undecided. The margin of error was 4.9 percent.

Wilson says he believes that the two party system is a failure but on government spending, health care reform and immigration, his positions are close to Benishek‘s.

With the race between Benishek and McDowell this close some say that the Democrats best hope is that Wilson will draw conservative voters away from Benishek. Conservatives have begged him to drop out of the race and endorse Benishek. He has refused, even stating that he doesn’t believe that Benishek is “a good man.”

As the Democrats and Republicans have inundated television and radio markets, Wilson’s shoestring media campaign has mostly consisted of newspaper advertisements and some television on Upper Peninsula cable channels, Hickey said. The campaign has not organized or paid for advertising with Google.

The Democrats don’t claim responsibility for the ads.

Spokespeople for the McDowell campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee say that they are unfamiliar with the Google ads.

Gabby Adler, spokeswoman for the DCCC said campaign rules prevent the DCCC from communication or coordinating with the groups Independent Expenditure Committee (which does not have a spokesperson) so she can’t comment on whether that committee is pursuing an Adwords campaign in support of Wilson.

Google ads are don’t require disclaimers, they fall under federal campaign finance law exemption for small items like bumper stickers, so it’s not easy to know who is paying for them. An advisory opinion issued by the FEC this month in response to a request from Google, states that as long as the website the Google ads link to discloses who paid for it, sponsored links without disclaimers do not violate federal campaign law.

A search of the Federal Election Commission’s recently released searchable database of Independent Expenditures turned up no spending on Google Adwords in Michigan.

Though the DCCC Independent Expenditure Committee has not reported any spending on Adwords campaigns it’s clear that Google ads is a campaign tactic the group has considered.

A job advertisement from the DCCC Independent Expenditure Committee this spring sought a New Media Director with experience in “purchasing and managing online advertising campaigns (Google Adwords, Facebook, Netroots).”

It’s not clear have much impact Internet advertising may have on this campaign.

“It’s always been possible that Wilson could get “traction” and affect the outcome of this race, probably hurting Benishek,” former Republican state senator and Inside Michigan Politics editor Bill Ballenger said via e-mail. “Whether internet traffic can do the job remains to be seen … Certainly Democrats would be motivated to build up Wilson and undercut Benishek — that’s probably the only chance McDowell has to win.”

Last week the state Democratic party sent a mailer with information about Glenn Wilson to households in Dist. 1, and although there is no hard evidence, some race watchers say that they are certain Democrats are also behind Wilson’s complimentary internet campaign.

“No question about it. If Wilson is not behind it who else is there?” said Jason Gillman, a Tea Party activist and Republican candidate for Grand Traverse County Commission. “The Dems know their only hope in many races is to split vote between independents and Republicans.”

Gillman describes himself as a libertarian-leaning Republican. He runs a company that sells security cameras and blogs at RightMichigan.com and MichiganTaxes.com.

He said that it was his political research earlier this year that uncovered ties between Michigan Democrats and the ultimately unsuccessful effort to put a group called “The Tea Party” on the November ballot.

“It will be Wilson’s fault in McDowell’s wins,” he said. “ McDowell is a 40 percent guy. He is not going to crack the 40 percent nut. Not going to happen.”