By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 12, 2008 10:40 AM

Television stations in Minnesota and Oregon are asking the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Communications Commission for advice regarding allegations that Republicans in two Senate races are shortchanging viewers with the brevity of their stand-by-your-ad statements.

The argument is over a matter of seconds, but depending on how the complaints are evaluated, the decision could cost Republican Sens. Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Gordon Smith (Ore.) hundreds of thousands of dollars.

TV stations in both states received letters from Democratic challengers arguing that the statements of approval at the end of the GOP campaign ads violate election laws. Attorneys for Al Franken, the challenger in Minnesota, said Coleman's image does not appear for a full four seconds at the end of his spot. Attorneys for Oregon challenger Jeff Merkley said Smith's ad shows a written statement but not his image.

As a result, the Republican senators have "forfeited their entitlement to the lowest unit charge for the duration of the campaign," wrote lawyer Marc Elias, who signed both letters. That means, Elias contended, that Coleman and Smith should have to pay the commercial rate, instead of a discounted rate for political candidates.

Smith's spokeswoman, Lindsay Gilbride, called the complaints "frivolous," and Coleman spokesman Luke Friedrich called them desperate. "There's no question about who sponsored and approved this ad," he said.

Republican election lawyer Jan Baran said he cannot imagine the FCC requiring networks to impose the sanctions. "Neither the FEC nor the FCC have imposed such a draconian punishment on any campaign with so minor an infraction," he said.

The FEC deadlocked over a similar case brought by Elias against then-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) in 2006.

Elias said enforcing the length of the statement is no technicality. "It's the law," he said. "And it was specifically added to the law to make candidates stand by their ads."