Help From a Silent Partner

In certain Oklahoma churches this fall, the Christian Coalition is handing out voter guides that contain information about the positions held by the two candidates for the state's open U.S. Senate seat, James Inhofe and Dave McCurdy. Outwardly unbiased and factual, the voter guide says McCurdy, a Democrat, supports "banning ownership of legal firearms," a fairly misleading statement based on McCurdy's vote for the crime bill, which included a ban on 19 types of assault weapons.

Such veiled tactics are spreading. Unlike traditional spending, in which organizations explicitly support a candidate, voter guides and get-out-the- vote campaigns are ostensibly nonpartisan, meaning...