CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING
Ads Citing War Mix With Reports From the Front Lines
By JIM RUTENBERG - NYT
COCOA BEACH, Fla., April 29 — It is the earliest, most expensive political advertising war in presidential campaign history, totaling at least $90 million so far, most of it from President Bush.
But this is also the first campaign in wartime in more than 30 years. In the 18 battleground states where the advertising is focused, including Florida, the blitz is not just striking for its intensity, but also for the way that it is playing off televised reports from the front lines in Iraq.
As they do in most places, images from the war zone dominate television news programs in this town near Patrick Air Force Base. Those graphic sights are often accompanied by reports about the local men and women who are doing the fighting, and the parents worrying about them here at home.
So spots from Senator John Kerry and President Bush, appearing most intensely in newscasts, are playing like running commentaries over who is better qualified to preside over the action unfolding between the commercials.
It is a significant break from recent campaigns, in which political commercials broadcast on local programs seemed awkward and out of context.
"Usually, you have this really feel-good story about someone rescuing a cat, and then you'll get this really nasty, negative ad," Kenneth M. Goldstein, an associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, said. "It's very rarely that you get the paid media from both sides and the free media all engaged in the same topic."
The spots may be optimally situated by the blunt standards of Madison Avenue, which puts a premium on placing commercials in programs where they will have the most emotional effects. But political scientists and strategists said both campaigns, already sparring daily over national security, risked criticism for politicizing the conflict in commercials, which lack the same nuances as interviews or even stump speeches.
"It is fraught with danger if you are viewed as being exploitative," said David Axelrod, a Democratic strategist who is producing advertisements for the Media Fund, a group that is running spots against the president.
Then again, Mr. Axelrod said, events necessitate it.
"It's sometimes not risky to address the thing that's paramount on people's minds," he said.
Not since 1972 has a presidential campaign unfolded amid continuing combat. Then, commercials for President Richard M. Nixon and Senator George McGovern vied over who could most efficiently end the unpopular conflict and bring the troops home.
This time, with both candidates agreeing that pulling out is not an option, the spots vie over who is better equipped to support the troops and solve the crisis — with messages that are often powerfully reinforced by reports from the front lines.
The Channel 2 News at 11 here, for instance, reported recently about a decision by a marine from Orlando, Sgt. Kenneth Conde Jr., to stay in Iraq after taking a bullet in the shoulder. Interviewed for the report, his mother, Theresa Conde, said she had asked him, "Are you crazy?"
An advertisement for Mr. Bush that followed shortly afterward implied that Ms. Conde would have even more to worry about if Mr. Kerry were president. It showed troops marching through the desert as an announcer intoned: "As our troops defend America in the war on terror, they must have what it takes to win. Yet John Kerry has repeatedly opposed weapons vital to winning the war on terror."
Adding a local economic element, the announcer added that Mr. Kerry had opposed Apache helicopters, C-130 Hercules transport planes and F-16 fighter jets, "components of which are all built here in Florida."
As the announcer speaks, the hardware disappears, piece by piece, leaving a lone soldier staring forlornly into the camera as the announcer ends: "John Kerry's record on national security? Troubling."
Although Mr. Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, had opposed continued production of those weapons systems, he had also voted for them or others like them on other occasions, a point that goes unmade in the advertising battle.
That spot from Mr. Bush ran on the Channel 9 news on Wednesday afternoon after a report about Rita Smith, the worried mother of an Army soldier whose tour in Iraq was extended because of the continued fighting.
"When Rita watches the news," the correspondent, Berndt Petersen, reported, "you can see the worry."
Toward the end of that broadcast, a spot from Mr. Kerry was shown that was in large part devised to deflect charges from Mr. Bush that he is not committed to the troops and national security. While listing what would be his top priorities as president, Mr. Kerry speaks directly into the camera and says, "First, we will keep this country safe and secure."
"My priorities are jobs and health care," he adds. "My commitment is to defend this country."
In two days of intensive viewing here, Mr. Kerry's spots often played such a defensive role, coming after spots from Mr. Bush had raised questions about his ability to be a wartime leader.
That is not to say Mr. Kerry's spots never worked on offense. Late on Wednesday, "Nightline" on ABC offered a long, blunt report about fighting in Falluja, juxtaposing images of allied soldiers and rebel fighters firing their weapons with that of Mr. Bush telling reporters, "Most of Falluja is returning to normal."
Toward the end of the broadcast, a commercial for Mr. Kerry had him again looking directly into the camera, this time saying, "Let me tell you exactly what I would do to change the situation in Iraq." After promising to "reach out to the international community in sharing the burden, the risk," he reminds viewers, "The American taxpayer is paying now almost $200 billion and who knows how many more billions, and we're paying the highest price in the loss of lives of our young soldiers, almost alone."
Darrell M. West, a professor of political science at Brown University, said the challenge for the candidates in running these spots was that they simply did not know how the advertising would come off in the news environment.
"How voters are going to see the ad is going to depend on whether the war is good or bad that day," Professor West said.
He and other experts noted that the campaigns did not have much choice when both sides agreed that the election would be decided on national security and the war as much as by economic factors.
"What Bush is trying to do in every way is to say, `You should be afraid of change right now,' " said Donny Deutsch, head of the Deutsch Inc. advertising agency in New York who was a consultant for Bill Clinton in 1992. "And the game for Kerry is, `As scary as change is, it's even scarier to stay the course.' And there's the game."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company |
