Political Underwriting

A local LPFM station was contacted by the Ron Paul campaign asking to air political ads. I'm sure accepting underwriting from a candidate is legal if it conforms to enhanced underwriting rules, but is it legal if the spot has a call to action(vote for me) or a comparison (I'm the best candidate)?

My understanding is that no station, be it commercial or non-com, can refuse announcements from candidates for Federal offices nor can announcements be censored. Political candidates are considered non-profit as well, but does that mean that non-com stations can air spots that go beyond normal enhanced underwriting rules?

Kyle,

I'm not 100% certain on this, but I believe I saw somewhere, perhaps on Christian Community Broadcasters website, that the political ads are exempted from the no call to action/comparison
rule.

http://www.ccbroadcasters.com

Seems like someone asked Mr. Broomall of CCB a similar question to yours. But I can't seem to find it now..sorry about that!

Not sure if you ever got a reply on this, but non-comms can refuse political underwriting if they make it a blanket policy. I know mainly because we were looking into the opposite, offering political underwriting. With regards to non-comms that want to offer political underwriting, the FCC says that non-commercial broadcast stations can accept paid political underwriting spots provided that the spot satisfies the general prohibition against a call to action. A candidate can buy time and indicate that he or she is running for re-election for a position. They cannot, however, urge voters to vote for them. Additionally, if a candidate voices their own spot, it becomes a "use" and under fair use laws all the candidates opponents may request equal air time at no charge. Underwriting by a political candidate cannot advance the person's candidacy, oppose his or her opponent, or express a view. Finally, stations may not limit underwriting to certain candidates or parties.