For Democrats, to Air Is Essential
Candidates Load Up on TV Ads for Key Feb. 3 Primaries
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 13, 2003; Page A01
When Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) took his advertising campaign to South Carolina, he did not run any of the policy-laden commercials that have filled the airwaves in New Hampshire. Instead, he used an ad filmed at the South Carolina house where he was born, talking about how "the folks I grew up with, they weren't famous and sure weren't rich. I will never forget where I come from."
Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) this week unveiled an ad targeted only at South Carolina, with Rep. James E. Clyburn, the state's popular black congressman, saying that "Dick Gephardt will be a president South Carolina can count on."
The Feb. 3 vote in South Carolina, where a loss could knock Edwards out of the race and cripple several other candidates, is one of seven showdowns that day that could thin the Democratic presidential field in a hurry. And unlike Iowa and New Hampshire, where the emphasis is on town meetings and shaking hands at coffee shops and plant gates, the unofficial first Super Tuesday of the 2004 race is a costly and crucial war on the airwaves.
"It's the drop-dead date for several of the candidates," said Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore's 2000 campaign. "It's D-Day. If they come away empty-handed, they'll get the message that it's quitting time."
Campaign strategists are feverishly vacuuming up intelligence about their rivals' advertising buys and placing big-money gambles on the Feb. 3 states they believe can boost their own candidates into contention with Howard Dean. Given the far-flung nature of the contests a week after New Hampshire -- in South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona, Delaware, New Mexico, North Dakota and Missouri -- the other candidates on the airwaves are counting on 30-second spots to carry their messages and keep them in the game.
The result, said Democratic consultant Jenny Backus, is that "figuring out where to run ads and not run ads could mean success or failure on the 3rd."
According to figures from local stations that were supplied by one of the campaigns, Dean has spent $4.4 million overall on ads; Edwards, $3.3 million; Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), $3 million; Gephardt, $1.5 million; retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, $1.1 million; and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), $1.1 million.
Dean, who leads the field in fundraising, poured $280,000 into South Carolina ads describing his background for the period from Dec. 8 through Dec. 17. He has started advertising in New Mexico and is about to begin in Arizona because they have early start dates for absentee ballots.
While Dean is spending a small fortune in Iowa, where he is in a tight race with Gephardt, he has barely been on the air for the last two months in New Hampshire, after aides concluded that his substantial lead in polls there made a greater investment unnecessary.
"Even with all the money we've got, we don't have the resources to go wall to wall in Iowa and New Hampshire," said Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager.
The style and tone of the ads vary considerably. Dean hammers on the issues, particularly his opposition to Iraq, and only recently aired a biographical spot that mentioned his medical background and his wife, who is also a physician.
Kerry plays up his military service, as does Clark, while denouncing President Bush. Lieberman is pictured as an average Joe in a diner. Edwards is often before an audience, talking about his roots as a millworker's son. Gephardt speaks of fighting for the middle class.
The ad wars feature a group of veteran Democratic operatives who have worked with and against one another for two decades. Mandy Grunwald, Lieberman's media adviser, worked on Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, as did Jim Margolis, Kerry's media man, who also worked for Walter F. Mondale in 1984.
Trippi, of the firm Trippi, McMahon & Squier, became Dean's campaign manager after toiling in presidential campaigns for Edward M. Kennedy, Gary Hart, Mondale and Gephardt. David Axelrod, Edwards's media adviser, was part of the late Paul Simon's presidential campaign. Gephardt's consultant, Bill Carrick, helped run his 1988 campaign.
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