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A recent ad by the Wil Cardon campaign is slamming Jeff Flake, and it's bringing up some questions.
In politics, what is off limits and what is fair game? What is okay as far as manipulation in photographic images to get a point across to the public?
Even for politics, does that cross the line?
If you watch any amount of television any hour of the day, no doubt you know who Wil Cardon is. He's running for Senate and he wants you to believe a vote for his Republican rival -- Congressman Jeff Flake -- is a vote for President Obama.
Cardon ad: "Flake joined Barack Obama in criticizing SB 1070 Arizona's immigration law."
The image has a lot of people, especially the guys at FirstStrategic Public Relations, talking.
"I don't recall very many joint appearances between Congressman Flake and President Obama…" says Barry Dill from FirstStrategic.
And that's the catch. The photo is actually two photos -- something the Flake campaign pointed out in a new ad.
Flake ad: "The photo Cardon needed for his attack ad didn't exist so he decided to Photoshop it."
"Negative ads work but they only work when they're truthful," says Dill.
Congressman Jeff Flake's campaign told us the ad was more than misleading, and they've essentially been forced to fire back.
"Even in political circles that crosses a line and that's exactly what he did here, it's just another pattern of dishonesty," says Steve Voler, Flake Senate Campaign.
While no one in Wil Cardon's camp could appear on camera, they told us they used the images to demonstrate the similarity of Congressman Flake and the president's positions on amnesty and that:
"The pictures aren't the point. The voters of Arizona deserve to know the real truth: For 12 years, Congressman Jeff Flake has stood beside liberals in Washington in supporting amnesty."
He just hasn't stood by them literally.
"If you can't trust him to run ads that are based on facts what can you trust him on," says Voler.
"Is this dishonest? You know you could maybe make that case. But does it set a new precedent? No. This goes on all the time, it's been going on for 30 years and this is where politics is in America today," says Dill.
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