President's Ad Man Nominated To Broadcasting Board of Governors

George W. Bush nominated his campaign media strategist Mark McKinnon to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees U.S.-funded international media outlets including Radio Sawa, Al Hurra and Voice of America. Half of the top 50 Bush reelection campaign expenditures went to McKinnon's firm Maverick Media, totaling $170 million. (While the majority of the money went towards campaign ads, the standard commission for media consulting firms is 15 percent, according to Campaigns & Elections.) "I think the most important thing to recognize is that in all the campaigns with President Bush, it always begins with the president saying: 'Here are the things I care about. These are the things I want to talk about. Now, you guys can go and execute the plan however you want to, but this is what I'm talking about; this is what I believe in,'" McKinnon told Frontline for their 2005 piece on Karl Rove called "The Architect."