At one of those stations, the History Channel, top executives made the decision to refuse to air the ad, saying that when they aired ads by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, it "generated several angry emails and phone calls," according to a representative from the History Channel.

"It is unfortunate that Vietnam Veterans get their say to talk about who may or may not have been in Cambodia 30-plus years ago, but a Veteran of the current war cannot appear on the same airwaves to talk about the war going on right now, and his experience," said Executive Director, Paul Rieckhoff. "Even FOX News Channel, which often gets criticized for slanted coverage, allowed our group to purchase time to speak the truth. Is the ad hard-hitting and graphic? Absolutely. But so is war. That's just the truth, and these stations have a duty to allow their viewers to see the human cost of war, especially if a group is willing to pay for the air time."

View the ad online at Operation Truth website.

As the mountain of newspaper endorsements pile up in favor of Sen. John Kerry, including dozens from dailies that backed Bush in 2000, the Bush/Cheney campaign is dismissing the trend as no big deal. "Look, the Republican candidate will never win the contest for editorial board endorsements. The major dailies across the country tend to skew liberal," RNC chairman Ed Gillespie told CNN last week. That spin comes straight out of the GOP handbook that insists the mainstream press tilts to the left, so of course newspapers love Democrats come Election Day.

Only problem is, it's not accurate. In fact, the complete opposite is true. Since 1940 when industry trade magazine Editor & Publisher began tracking newspapers during presidential elections, only two Democratic candidates -- Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and Bill Clinton in 1992 -- have ever won more endorsements than their Republican opponent. That's because newspaper publishers, who usually sign off on endorsements, tend to vote Republican (like lots of senior corporate executives), which means GOP candidates pick up more endorsements. A lot more. In 1984, President Reagan landed roughly twice as many endorsements as Democrat Walter Mondale in the president's easy reelection win. And in 1996, despite his weak showing at the polls, 179 daily newspapers endorsed Republican Bob Dole, which easily outpaced the Democrats' tally by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.

A scorecard of newspaper endorsements showing Kerry up 125-96.

Another interesting tidbit about surveys of newspaper executives and editors.

E&P's results come from industry-wide surveys it conducted among 800 top newspaper executives one week before the election. Asked how they were going to vote in 2000, 59 percent of newspaper publishers signaled they were voting for Bush, compared to just 20 percent for Gore. And even among newsroom editors, Bush won support among 33 percent, compared to just to 24 percent for Gore.