More than $400 million was spent on issue advertising targeted primarily to members of Congress or other federal policy-makers during the 108th Congress, according to a new study published in the fall issue of The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics.

 "Legislative Issue Advertising in the 108th Congress: Pluralism or Peril?" analyzed the nearly 68,000 ads produced in 2003 and 2004 and found that large corporations outspent other factions in advocating specific positions and thus gained a disproportionate voice in public debate. Often, claims made in the ads were false and misleading, but went unchallenged.