BANGOR – What a difference a word makes.

Maine Republican Party officials on Tuesday corrected a television advertisement erroneously claiming that a 1999 tax increase supported by congressional candidate Democrat Mike Michaud would have cost the “average” Social Security recipient more than $500 a year.

“This is a critical mistake in the Republican party advertisement that is very misleading to the public,” Michaud for Congress attorney Cassandra Lentchner wrote in a letter asking local station managers to pull the GOP ad.

Social Security has become a central issue in the race between Michaud, a state senator, and his Republican challenger Kevin Raye, a longtime aide to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Michaud aides objected to the GOP ad – paid for by the party, not the Raye campaign – because it suggested that all Social Security recipients would have paid the proposed tax, when, in reality, it would have affected only higher-income recipients.

In response to queries from local station managers, Maine GOP officials submitted a new ad, which satisfied both sides by replacing the word “average” with “affected,” according to station managers reached Tuesday.

The situation is just the latest example of local television executives being forced to judge the fairness of often complex claims made in a barrage of political advertisements during the fall campaign season.

“There’s just no way to do that,” said WVII-7 general manager Mitch Lambert, who has faced several such election-year challenges while working in Ohio and Wisconsin. “We generally look at the ads, but if there’s nothing that’s obviously false and no evidence of that, they’ll run.”

Although the new ad appeared to satisfy its Democratic challengers, questions remained about its accuracy without clarifying that the $541 increase applied to the “average affected” Social Security recipient, rather than just the “affected” recipient.

When questioned about the accuracy of the ad without the word “average,” WABI-5 general manager Mike Young said, “Now you’re wordsmithing, and I don’t have time for wordsmithing.”

Michaud aides said the problematic ad was just the latest attempt to distract voters from Michaud’s solid record on senior issues.

“Average or affected, it’s still a distortion,” said Michaud press secretary Monica Castellanos. “The fact is they got caught lying on this and that’s why they had to change the ad.”

Maine GOP communications director Cynthia Bergman said Tuesday that the ad’s claim was based on an Oct. 6 Portland Press Herald story, which indeed states that the tax would have “cost the average Social Security recipient $541” based on Maine Revenue Services estimates.

In actuality, the tax – had Gov. Angus King not vetoed it – would have affected about 42,000 of the state’s 251,000 Social Security beneficiaries based on year 2000 tax returns, according to Maine Revenue Services.

Of the 42,000 affected, the average recipient would have paid an additional $612. The $541 figure was apparently based on 1999 estimates, according to media reports at the time.

The objections to the GOP ad marks the latest dust-up in the close contest which has drawn national attention – including truckloads of campaign cash – as both parties look to gain control of the narrowly divided U.S. House of Representatives.

“They seem to be more spirited this year,” said WLBZ-2 general manager Judy Horan of the challenges to this round of political advertisements. “This must be a close race.”