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Since David Broder issued a challenge to journalists after the 1988 presidential campaign to move from being "color commentators" to "referees," political campaign ad watches have proliferated. This article uses originally coded data to empirically document the growth, increasing diversity, and content of all original print ad watches from the 1992,1996, and 2000 election cycles. Testing a series of standard political communication hypotheses, the analysis indicates that while ad watches have increased in frequency, source, and target, they have been molded more to emphasize the strategic aspect of advertising than to evaluate the veracity of content. Systematic bias emerges in the form of local sources' being easier on local incumbents, a penchant for carrying out ad watches on negative ads, and treating Democratic ads more favorably than Republican.

Examines growth, increasing diversity, and content of all original print political advertising watches from the 1992, 1996, and 2000 election cycles.

Until recently most students of Congress were limited to studying it from afar, depending primarily on secondary sources. Limited press coverage of current debates and behavior were often so skimpy that it was necessary to wait a number of years until a select group of events percolated through the process to become part of "the literature." It took even longer before the events found their way into the classroom as relevant examples of important principles and concepts. The primary sources available (The Congressional Record, Committee Reports, etc.) were ponderous, poorly indexed and often retained the tainted image that they did not truly represent reality. While the Congress of recent years is much more open to public view than its predecessors, open committee meetings and the increase in recorded voting did little to enhance the resources available to teachers or students for understanding the process.