Here are the two new Kerry TV ads. johnkerry.com
Kerry rolls out biographical ads
Campaign aides says 19-state ad buy unprecedented
By William L. Watts, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 1:33 PM ET May 3, 2004
WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Democrat John Kerry on Monday rolled out a pair of new television ads as part of a $25 million, 19-state advertising buy that campaign officials say is unprecedented in size and scope for a presidential challenger.
The biographical spots heavily emphasize the Massachusetts senator's naval service in Vietnam. They come amidst grumbling from some fellow Democrats that Kerry's campaign has failed to counter weeks of attacks on his record by President Bush's campaign advertisements, Vice President Dick Cheney and other Republican officials.
The new, 60-second Kerry spots, which will run for at least three weeks, are part of a "wholly positive ad campaign based upon his record -- something President Bush cannot do," Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said in a news conference.
In an ad entitled "Heart," Kerry's Vietnam crewmates Del Sandusky and Jim Rassman, a soldier who was pulled to safety by Kerry during a firefight, praised Kerry as a strong leader. "The decisions that he made saved our lives," Sandusky says.
The ad also features Kerry's daughter, Vanessa, and wife, Teresa, and ends with Kerry saying, "We're a country of optimists, we're the can-do people and we just need to believe in ourselves again."
The second ad, entitled "Lifetime," also features Sandusky and Rassman. A narrator notes that Kerry earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three purple hearts in Vietnam and highlights his 1993 vote for Bill Clinton's controversial budget plan, which is described in the ad as a "decisive vote that created 20 million new jobs."
The Kerry ads don't mention Bush and don't directly address charges in the Bush-Cheney ads that Kerry will attempt to broadly raise taxes and that his Senate record is weak on defense.
Kerry campaign officials dismissed notions that the Bush-Cheney ad barrage, estimated at around $60 million since March, has hurt the candidate.
Tad Devine, a Kerry media adviser, said the Bush campaign has made "serious strategic mistakes."
The Bush stance appears to presume that the incumbent could copy Bill Clinton's 1996 strategy of an aggressive spring advertising campaign that helped define challenger Bob Dole, who was low on funds after the GOP primary battle, Devine said.
Cahill noted that the ad buy, in addition to several key states viewed by strategists and pundits as key battlegrounds, also extends into the traditional GOP presidential strongholds of Colorado and Louisiana. |
