Prometheus 6

Any advocacy group seeking to place a single, full-page, black-and-white ad in The Times on "standby" over a seven-day period - the paper picks the day - pays what MoveOn.org  did, $64,575, sources said....By the end of the day - with Giuliani's challenge already scoring huge points on conservative talk radio and Web sites - his campaign released its ad. It was unclear when it would run in The Times or how much it cost, but sources indicated it was the same $64,575 as MoveOn.org  paid.

Rudy Giuliani hits N.Y. Times, Hillary Clinton and MoveOn.org
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
Friday, September 14th 2007, 4:00 AM

For Rudy Giuliani, it was the perfect liberal trifecta - a way to slam The New York Times, Hillary Clinton and the leftist MoveOn.org  group in one fell swoop.

All Giuliani needed was one bogus newspaper story and $64,575 in campaign cash, both of which the Republican presidential hopeful used yesterday to spawn a bonanza of free publicity in the conservative blogosphere.

In one of the more transparent stunts of the 2008 presidential race, Giuliani began the day by accusing The Times of selling the Democrat-friendly MoveOn.org  a "heavily discounted" ad on Monday that cast U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus as "General Betray Us."

Republican candidates have blasted the ad as an unpatriotic smear of a revered general, and yesterday Republican Giuliani accused The Times, MoveOn.org  and Democratic presidential foe Clinton - who has refused to denounce the ad - of engaging in "character assassination."

"What we should move on with ... is a civil discourse without name-calling," Giuliani said in Atlanta - after demanding that his campaign be given the same "discounted rate" to run a pro-Petraeus ad today.

But Giuliani's facts were challenged. Any advocacy group seeking to place a single, full-page, black-and-white ad in The Times on "standby" over a seven-day period - the paper picks the day - pays what MoveOn.org  did, $64,575, sources said.

The New York Post reported The Times charges a higher rate, $181,692, setting up erroneous charges MoveOn got a "lefty" discount. But the higher price is for ads guaranteed to run on a specific day, said Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis.

All of which were details-schmetails to Team Giuliani, which leaped at the chance to hit three of the right's top liberal demons.